One Time in Vegas
by SweetestFlowersofMidnight
Summary: Bella, an aspiring artist, and Edward a successful author with a pen name, meet one night in Vegas. Bella's reason for visiting is only to appease her friend's need to aid her in finding inspiration for her artwork. Coincidentally, she gets that and more.
1. Prologue

**This is my first fanfiction I have ever written, so do be gentle with it. THOUGH I can take criticisms if you have them - since I am possitive you will have at least some. Regardless, I hope reading this is enjoyable and not a waste of your time.**

**DISCLAIMER FOR THE ENTIRE STORY: I do not, in any way shape or form, own any of these characters. They belong to Stephanie Meyer. I'm just playing with them for awhile.**

* * *

><p>"I promise, if you do this, you will not regret it. You will have an absolutely fantastic time, it will be an unforgettable experience, and who knows, maybe you'll even break the dry spell you're in!" Alice chimed happily into Bella's ear as the girl looked sullenly out the window.<p>

"We have been over this, Alice. I need to be at home. Working. On my paintings. Not gallivanting through Vegas without a care in the world, okay? How am I ever supposed to make a decent living if you are constantly interrupting me to gather more experiences so I can have some sort of inspiration. It's starting to get old," she grumbled, shaking her head a little bit before slouching in the chair. The very worst part of this journey from their middle sized town was the fact that she had to be all nice and dolled up. Bella much preferred to just dress like a "hipster" as Alice called her.

It was then that Rose decided to make her opinion known. "Well, Bella, you need to get out more. How are you supposed to represent the world and it's wonders through your art if you've never experienced any of it? This is why Alice and I do this to you, to force you to have experiences that will benefit you in the future, okay? Now, stop complaining, and allow us to have some fun, alright? Who knows, maybe you'll meet a hot guy you can have some fun with."

Bella just rolled her eyes at her friends. "Uh, huh. Right. Like any guy would go for me when he could go for one of you two, right," she said, shaking her head a little bit at the ridiculousness of the suggestion before looking back out the window.

"Whatever you say, Bella. But I think you will be the one snagging a hottie this weekend. You are far prettier than you give yourself credit for, especially when you dress yourself up more than your usual mix of hipster and artsy style. You'll see. This is going to be a trip to Vegas you'll never be able to forget," Alice said, grinning over at Bella as they neared the city.


	2. Chapter One

**So! This is the first _real _chapter of the story and I hope this is enjoyable. Feed back is appreciated - and in any form. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p>She was woken up by the sound of a shower running in the background and sunlight shining directly in her eyes. The first thought was that Rose or Alice hadn't shut the curtains in their room and someone was in the shower after their late night of drinking,, dancing, and rather loud music pounding in their ears. She also remembered warm bodies, lots of them, all undulating around them. Bella vaguely remembered that her friends had encouraged her to dance with a particular man, someone rather handsome. She thought.<p>

Groaning, she rolled over to cover her eyes, intent on falling back asleep, when she realized a couple of things. One of them being that she was naked, the second thing being the fact that the sheets they were under were much too nice for the hotel they were staying at. They weren't staying at a crappy hotel, but they definitely didn't pay for a hotel that would have … silk sheets? Slowly, Bella opened her eyes and looked around at her surroundings. She was most definitely not at the hotel she had checked into, and she most certainly did not recall how they had gotten to this particular destination. Most likely she had gone home with some guy she had been dancing with. Some experience that was, she hardly remembered anything about what had happened.

Slowly, she started to sit up, knowing exactly what all was going on around her. Hopefully she would be able to sneak out of this place before the man in the shower had finished and walked out to talk to her. This was most definitely out of character for her, and she didn't want to have to deal with everything that was going on at the particular moment. She quickly went about finding her clothing, not bothering with underwear – he could keep it as a souvenir. When she was pulling on her pants, she noticed something on her finger, realizing that there had been some sort of peculiar weight resting on that finger.

Looking at her hand, inspecting it a little bit, she couldn't help but frown a little bit. What did this mean? Did she get married? Oh, shit, she got married, didn't she? There was no other explanation as to why this ring was sitting on her finger. She was standing there, only in her bra and pants, when she felt two rather muscular arms wrap around her waist, and a husky voice whisper into her ear, making goose bumps break out across her bare skin where the man's chest was touching her back.

"Admiring the ring? I promise I'll get you a better one. Your wedding ring should be much more beautiful than this, Since it should at least attempt to match your beauty," the man said into her ear.

"Did we … did we get married?" she asked softly, trying not to lean into the man's body, the man whose name she didn't even remember. Her head hurt like no other, and she just wanted to go back to her friends and fall fast asleep. Nice and easily. But, of course, there was no way that was going to be happening for quite some time, there was definitely some stuff that was going to have to happen first.

"Why, yes, we did, Mrs. Cullen," he said, softly, kissing her neck gently.

"Oh … well …," she said before clearing her throat a moment and stepping out of the man's arms and away from his almost startlingly gently kiss on her neck, "We are going to get this annulled because we got married drunkenly in Vegas. I will leave you my number and contact information, and we can take care of this issue nice and easy," she said before taking a deep breath before looking down at the ground and starting to look for her shirt, noticing, in the process, that this 'husband' of hers was most likely completely naked underneath the towel around his hips. The towel that was hanging very low on his hips. Quickly, she pulled on her clothing, and turned to face him, noting just how attractive he was. At least she did that much right, married a rather attractive man and everything.

"What if I'm not too inclined to annul this? You and I have to stay married for at least six weeks," he pointed out.

"Well, I don't want to stay married. Try asking a girl on a date first, instead of marrying her," she said to him as she started to look for a piece of paper.

"Hmm … I see. Well, Mrs. Cullen, I say we stay married, and I meet you at your hotel room later and we can drive to our home together, either your place or mine, I don't care," he said simply, acting as if they were already actually truly married.

"Great. So I got married to a complete nut," she said, rolling her eyes a little bit before taking a deep breath and stepping away from the situation, trying not to lose her shit.

"I promise you, I am not crazy," the man said, laughing a little bit in her ear before she stepped away from him more to picking up that piece of paper and writing down what she needed to.

"Uh, huh. Well, Mr. Not-Crazy. I think to prove you're not insane to me, you don't find my hotel later and you don't follow me home. You call me in a couple of days and we work out an annulment! That would be the normal, non crazy, thing to do. Is that okay?" she said to him as she wrote down her phone number so that they would be able to get in contact.

"Well, I am not a crazy person, but I will be finding you and talking to you. It seems to me that I married a beautiful, intelligent, strong woman. Exactly what I was looking for. I don't plan on letting that slip through my fingers," he said simply before smiling and walking out of the room, her eyes following him slowly as he walked away, wondering what on earth was wrong with this man. Sure, he was handsome, but that did not give him the right to follow her around.

Just as she was about to turn around and leave, after leaving what information she was forced to leave, just so it would be possible for them to get this whole marriage thing taken care of and completely gone, she heard his voice coming from the other room. "And my first name is Edward, by the way. In case you have forgotten," he said.

Shaking her head at him, she walked to the door. "Bella, in case you didn't remember," she called back before leaving the hotel room and speeding away to the one she actually belonged at. Her friends were in for a serious verbal lashing about them not keeping their promise to her, about keeping her out of trouble. Sometimes she wished her friends were more reliable than they acted. Taking a small breath, she reminded herself that it was quite possible that she had slipped away with this Edward guy and they had thought she was just going to get lucky … and not married.

When she finally reached the hotel they were actually staying at, she quickly made her way to the room they had booked, barged in and glared at the two sleeping forms of her friend. "Wake up, dumb asses, I've got some serious news for you," she announced, putting her hands on her hips as she did so.

"Tell us later, we're sleeping," Alice mumbled from her bed.

"No, Alice, we talk about it now. Right now. Because, guess what happened to me last night?" Bella asked her friends, waiting for them to respond.

"You had some fucking awesome sex with a hottie," she heard Rose call, "Big deal," she said.

"Well, yes, that's part of it. But that's not the part that I'm trying to talk to you bone heads about," she said, holding out her hand in font of her, "Take a good look at my hand and tell me what's different."

Alice opened one eye and sat up a little bit and stared at the ring on her finger, "He gave you a really pretty ring, on your ring finger … ring finger … Bella? Did you get married and not invite me to the wedding?" she asked.

"No, I was so trashed that the 'hottie' I slept with was able to get married to me. I got married last night, and now, now he doesn't want to get this thing annulled. I can't be married! I can't have a family now! I'm a freaking starving artist living in a tiny little loft. What the hell am I supposed to do with a husband that doesn't want to get rid of our drunken marriage," she asked, staring at her now wide awake friends.

"Well, what you're going to do is get lots of sex without having to work for it. Also, I promise that he is going to love that you're an artist and this cute little thing that lives in a small little loft. I still think you should move in with me or Alice, we do have enough room in our houses, and you can easily avoid this guy that way. We could keep him away from you for a while," she said simply, smiling a little bit.

Bella just shook her head furiously at the girl, denying the situation. "No, I can't do that. That would be stupid. And I know I hate it when you offer stuff like that. But, seriously, guys. You let me get married last night? Really?" she said taking a deep breath.

"Well, sorry we didn't try and stop you because you were sneaking off with a very, very attractive man that wanted to sleep with you. We weren't about to screw that up for you," Rose said to her, being perfectly honest.

She just rolled her eyes at her friends. "Well, because you allowed this to happen to me, you are now required to help me, however I want you to help. Okay?" she said, looking at Alice and Rose seriously. Bella just wanted to know that if Edward showed up and she couldn't handle things, she would have a good support system to help get him out of her hair. Or at least help her hide from him for a little while.

"Fine. We promise," they said together.

"Good. Now, let's pack up and get ready to go. I want to be gone before my husband can track me down. I want to get this annulled at a safe distance from him of several hundred miles," she said simply as she looked at her friends, nodding seriously. Hopefully he wouldn't be quick enough in finding her that they wouldn't have left the city just yet.

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter should be up sometime this week, for whoever cares to know. Until then, let me know what you think and how I might improve as I go. :) All thoughts are cherished and appreciated!<strong>


	3. Chapter Two

**Alright! Chapter Two is here! Read, enjoy, and do tell me what you think!**

* * *

><p>Once they managed to get everything packed up, they were out of that place as fast as they could, mostly because of Bella's constant urging to get out of this place as fast as they could manage, away from where Edward might find them. Or rather, her. Some day in the near future, she was sure that that man was going to find her, but at this particular moment, she was just glad that they were working on getting out of this place and back home. She certainly had some stuff she wanted to get out of her system, and that meant she was most definitely going to have something she would be able to paint.<p>

Her friends were oddly quiet as they drove back home, though she could tell Alice was dying to say something, probably something that she shouldn't say and Rose was the only reason the girl wasn't starting to yammer on and on about something or another. "Okay. What is it? I know I didn't leave much room for discussion when I got back to the hotel room but … now you can talk," Bella said, waiting to see what it was that Alice was dying to say.

"What if he's your true love?" the girl spat out, turning to look at Bella.

"What?" Bella asked, completely thrown off by her friends sudden thought.

"What if he's your true love? What if this guy you met was just so perfect for you that in your drunken state getting married was completely and totally obviously perfect to do! I mean, except for the fact that I wasn't a part of it," Alice said simply, like it made complete and total sense.

"I highly doubt it," Bella said as she shook her head a little bit, "I was drunk. He was hot. And now for some reason he's got the same notion as you, Alice," she said, shaking her head at the girl.

"No, but seriously, I think he could be your true love. You aren't that crazy, Bella. To go and marry someone when you were drunk. You wouldn't do that unless they were outstanding in some way," Alice said.

"I was just really, really trashed. That's it. He's not my true love. Nothing like that," Bella insisted.

"Whatever you want to tell yourself, Bella. Whatever makes you feel better," she said as she smiled and shook her head at the girl a little bit.

All Bella could do in this situation was roll her eyes at her friend and pretend nothing was going on. That none of this was happening. She would happily live in denial that she had ever traveled to Vegas, but she had too many things she had to deal with because of the nice little trip she had taken with her friends to forget all about it. Most definitely, the second she walked through her front door, she was going to call her father and tell him about what happened. She would be certain to make it clear that it was Rose and Alice's fault she was ever left to go off on her own and now he needed to aid her a bit in getting everything set up so she could annul the pesky marriage.

That way, she could focus on painting while her emotions were strong. If nothing else, her friends had succeeded in giving her some inspiration for a spree of paintings that she was hoping would be well worth her pain of dealing with this pesky man that seemed to want to stay married to her for some very strange reason that she wasn't quite sure she wanted to even being to completely understand.

Hours passed by quickly as her mind raced through everything she had to take care of in the next few days, and the different ideas for her new painting series. She didn't have a name for it yet, she hadn't gotten that far in her thinking, but she wanted it to be a series of paintings depicting the downfall of a woman and then her rise, just like she was planning on doing. The downfall being getting drunk and then married, the rise kicking the man out of her life and living as an independent and strong person.

Of course, it would take quite some time to work through all the paintings and she wasn't sure if things would change by the end, but she was certain that this journey would make for some spectacular work. She always did her best when emotions were running high …

As soon as she could see her little apartment, she let out a sigh of relief and eagerly sat up straighter, ready to bold. "Now, you two understand that I am still angry at you and will be for quite some time?" Bella said, looking at her two friends as she saw Rose roll her eyes and Alice do the same.

"Sure, sure, whatever, Bella. You know you love us. And if that hubby of yours shows up sometime soon, please, call us and let us know. I would love to get to know your true love," Alice said, beaming at her friend as the other girl got out of the car.

Standing outside of the vehicle with her small suitcase in hand, Bella rolled her eyeballs. "Sure, sure, whatever Alice. I'll call you if he shows up so you can judge whether or not he is truly my soul mate or just some crazy nut job that I need to extract from my life as quickly as possible," Bella said simply before taking a deep breath and heading into her house, hoping that in the next few days this mess would be taken care of and she would never have to think of Edward again.

Trudging into her small loft apartment, she set her things down and moved to her bed, flopping out on the soft mattress and letting her eyes close as she lay there. She needed to call her father soon. She needed to let him know about everything that happened, but couldn't that wait a couple of hours? So she could actually recover from the rather strange and exciting weekend she had? And after she woke, she was certain she would want to paint … so maybe she would call him between the painting and the sleeping. Yeah. That sounded like a good plan.

Unfortuantely, that wasn't what the universe seemed to have planned for her since about thirty seconds after those thoughts had drifted across her drowsy mind she had heard a knocking at her door, a powerful fist banging on the softer wood. It sounded so loud to her sleepy ears that she thought maybe a giant was trying to break down her door to get to her for some insane reason. Though that wasn't too much more insane than her getting married while in Vegas.

When the knocking didn't go away right away, like she had hoped it would, and instead continued, slowly escalating to the point where the door bell rang, she rose from her comfortable position on her bed and trudged to the door, opening it to see her "husband" standing directly in front of her. Registering that it was him, she closed the door as fast as she could – but obviously not fast enough since his hand had caught it.

Being much strong than her, it seemed that Edward had no troubles keeping the door propped open as they starred at each other, Bella's eyes narrowing at the man. "I thought I told you not to follow me or something," she said to him, "Just call me and we'd work out the annulment," she said finished.

"You see, I just had one or two problems with that particular situation – I wanted to see you again. I wanted to get to know you better. There is something about you Bella, that just draws me in and I can't walk away, so you're stuck with me. What is yours is mine as of now, so why don't you let me into our house?" he said, "After all, I drove a long way to see you."

Glaring at the man, but being too tired to seriously resist him, Bella stepped aside, allowing him into the house though she yawned. "Sleep on the couch if you want. Don't touch anything but the TV, and keep the volume down. I'm exhausted. We'll talk when I wake up, okay?" Bella said, not in the mood to be discussing anything related to any sort of marriage, wanted or otherwise.

Quickly, she found herself in a land of blissful slumber, unwilling to stir from the lovely confines of a dreamless place, her mind wandered to thoughts of Edward, and what few pieces of information she could manage to remember about the time they had spent together in Vegas. Quite vaguely she could remember quite a bit of laughter, a deep male voice rumbling in her ear as her head was pressed against, presumably his chest.

This dream-memory whispered her name into her ear, calling her exquisite before she felt lips against her own, and she couldn't help but respond, everything about her giving into this new sensation, just wanting to feel more, experience more, be closer than she had been. There was no shame in wanting that. And Edward had certainly responded to her, his larger body pressing against hers, keeping her in a warm embrace – one that made her feel safe and comfortable. More so than she had ever recalled feeling in her life time.

She dreamed of sweet words dancing across her ears, mutterings of love and awe, uttered by both herself and Edward. Everything was a blur, though. Just a massive blur of naked bodies tangled up among the silk sheets of the hotel room they had gone back to. Edward's hotel room. And she remembered as they had lain together, limbs wrapped securely around one another in an attempt to stay as close as possible as they had fallen asleep together in that particular bed they had shared.

Of course, after this blur of a dream had wafted through her mind, Bella began to wake for real, having realized that there was something just slightly out of place with her home, that there was something just a little bit off. Something was different. There was someone else in her apartment and for the moment, for the life of her she absolutely could not remember who it was that she had opened up her door to and allowed in.

Then she remembered. She had invited the very man in that had been the root of this dream and the root of her new found troubles. And now that she was waking, she would actually have to face him. So, slowly, Bella woke, dreading what Edward was going to say to her, terrified to find out what he might try and do now to convince her not to push along this annulment of their marriage.

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter should be up within a weeks time! So you know, reviews DO help motivate me to write, and if there's anything you would like to see happen, suggest it in a review or PM me and there is a good possibility it might get included in the story sometime in the future! I have some ideas, but it never hurts to have a nice little pool of them. ALSO! If I use your idea, I WILL give you a shout out as a form of thanks. :) <strong>


	4. Chapter Three

**Well! Chapter Three is here! I had fun writing it, so I hope you have fun reading it. :) Let me know what you think when you're done! **

* * *

><p>When Bella's eyes opened, she saw Edward sitting in front of her television, drinking a glass of water he had must have gotten from her cabinets. He was smiling a little bit to himself and the volume of the television was down so low she was certain he had been listening to something else. Probably her, she knew that often times she would talk in her sleep. And she wondered what she had said that made him smile like that.<p>

She stirred and stretched out on the bed a little bit before sitting up to her full height and looking over at Edward. He was gorgeous, with his coppery bronze hair and gentle sort of look about him at the same time as a particularly chiseled, sexy, strong sort of look. She wanted to eat him up, of course, he would interpret that as her wanting him to stick around, when, in reality, she just wanted him to leave her alone, but of course, it wouldn't make sense for her to be all over him, and then tell him she wanted their marriage still to be annulled. That wouldn't work. At least she didn't think it would. Maybe she should give it a try just to see … no, that was a bad idea.

Taking a deep breath, she rose from the bed she was in and walked into her tiny little kitchen to grab a little bit of a snack, before sitting down on her small couch, as far away from the gorgeous man she had accidentally married. She was thankful for the fact that she hadn't been snuck up on after she woke, since she knew it was obvious that she had woken up and was moving about. Of course, now she had to face him, and she was going to. Hopefully without making too much of a fool of herself, since she was sure that now she was capable of speaking, it was going to be rather hard to form sentences when a man as beautiful as him was coming after her.

"So, Bella," she heard him say to her, "We going to talk about how you're not going to get that marriage annulled now?" he said to her, raising an eyebrow as his lips turned up in a slight smirk.

His voice alone made me want to say that I wasn't going to any more, but I shook my head a little bit at the situation. "My mind is still the same as when we last saw each other. I haven't been able to organize stuff yet, though," she said, smiling a little bit before standing again and going to get the phone, "I've gotta make some calls, but I'll be back soon," she said, grabbing her cell phone and walking out into the hallway.

Edward had rolled his eyes at her, she had seen it happen, and then, on top of that, she saw the way he had almost gotten up and followed her out of the room. Taking a deep breath, she called her dad. This was going to be an awkward conversation, an extremely awkward conversation. The phone rang about three times and then, a couple of seconds later, he picked up.

"Hey, Bells, what's going on?" Charlie greeted on the other end of the phone.

"Hey, dad. Um … I meant to call earlier, but I've got this problem I have to deal with. My friends took me to, um, uh, Vegas last night. And I ended up married to some guy named Edward Cullen …," I trailed off, decided it was probably best to just get to it.

The other side of the phone was extremely quiet for a moment, and Bella was just a little frightened that Charlie had quite possibly had a heart attack. "Okay. Well. You are going to get it annulled, right?" he asked her.

"Yeah. That's, uh, actually what I was calling about. I have to focus on my art right now, so I was wondering if you could get the papers for me and stuff? I don't know where to go for them, and that way I can make sure the guy is going to cooperate and whatever with the process," Bella said, thanking God that her father had been happy to go along with the situation.

"Yeah, Bells. I can do that for you. But you've got to promise if the guy gives you trouble that you will call me and let me know. Also, you will have to wait a couple of weeks before I can get you the papers, it takes a little time to get everything organized," Charlie said simply.

"Okay. Thank you dad. And I promise, I'll let you know if anything gets too much for me to handle," she said, smiling into the phone.

"Good. Take care, Bells. And yell at those friend of yours for me, will ya?" he said.

"Will do. Bye dad," she said into the phone.

"Bye Bells," he said and the phone clicked, telling her that her father had hung up. With a little sigh, she put her phone back into her pocket and walked back into her house, seeing Edward staring at the door. He must have been waiting for her to walk back in for a while.

"Alright," Bella said, looking at Edward for a moment, "I just got someone to help us take care of our papers. Hopefully we'll only have to wait about a week before we can get this thing taken care of for good," Bella said, wondering what this Edward guy was thinking. She looked at him as he smiled at her for a moment.

"Well, that means I have about a week to convince you that you do, in fact, want to stay married to me," he said to her, standing from the chair he had taken up residence in and slowly walked over towards Bella, putting a hand under her chin and lifting her head up a bit so he could look her in the eyes.

All Bella could do was roll her eyes at him, though she couldn't deny the fact that her skin was tingling deliciously where she was being touched by him. She didn't want to break contact at the same time as she wanted to run as far away from this man as possible. She could see herself very easily giving into him, very easily just letting herself get lost in his embrace and allowing herself to stay married to him.

"What?" Edward said to her, smiling at the eye roll, "I plan on charming the pants off of you," he said, leaning down towards her lips, "Again and again and again," he informed her before his lips finally met her's, causing Bella's body to be on fire. It took a couple of seconds for what was happening to register with her, but once she realized what was happening – that she was kissing a man she was supposed to be getting away from, she pushed back, moving away from him and his electric kiss. When their lips parted, she could hear him chuckling a little bit, causing her heart to leap to her throat. She still wanted to get this thing annulled, right? Right. She had to focus on art, not a husband.

"I'm sorry, Edward, but it's not going to happen. And now, if you would excuse me, I've got some work I need to get done," she said, moving away from him, feeling flustered and not at all steady on her feet. Somehow, that very gentle kiss had made her head go all foggy. Which was probably what his intentions had been. But that still didn't make it mean of him to have gotten her all flustered like he had.

Edward just followed after her. "Okay, I'll watch you work, then. Get to know you a bit. Currently, all I know about you is that you are very beautiful and charming, a fabulous dancer, and … that's it. I'm curious to get to know you more," he informed her, following Bella as the girl walked into her art room. When Edward walked in behind her, he let out a low whistle.

"Wow," she heard him say from behind her, "This is quite some art you've done here. Impressive," he said, his eyes taking in the many pieces that Bella had kept over the years, most of them her favorites. Of course, she was just working on compiling the works that she liked the best and was then planning on selling those at an art show, if she could ever manage to get into one.

She looked over at Edward and raised an eyebrow at him. "Thanks. As much as I'm glad you're taking an interest in what I do for a living, I think you should leave me alone so I can actually do some work," she said to him. Bella didn't really think about painting as work, but she did think of it as a way to get paid on occasion. Often times she would lose track of what time it was, or what she was supposed to be doing at the moment when she was painting. That was always a sensation she particularly enjoyed, but at the moment, she didn't care to have any serious distractions. She didn't want to be distracted, even if she was being threatened to be distracted by a particularly handsome man that wanted her for some odd reason.

"Oh, I won't bother you, I'm just going to sit here, all nice and quiet like," Edward said simply, placing his hands in his lap as he sat there, not making any indication that he would be moving at any point in the near future.

As Bella was preparing her new canvas, for the first painting she was going to do – one that captured her annoyance at the situation at hand - she glared over at Edward. "You are going to bother me just by being here. If you insist on bugging me and sticking around, go buy something for dinner and cook it while I'm in here, okay? Or, better yet go buy me dinner, leave it hear, get a hotel room and stop bugging me. But if you're going to be sticking around, you better be doing something good for me," she said to him seriously, a little irritated that he didn't seem inclined to leave.

"Yes, fair Bella. I choose, then, to make you some dinner. Any allergies I should know about? I would hate to make something for you that you were unable to eat," he said to her, seeming to be particularly honest about the situation at hand.

Bella shook her head at Edward as she was trying to decide whether or not she wanted to do this painting horizontal or vertical. This was going to be the smallest of the paintings. She had decided that, as things went on, she would make paintings progressively larger until, when this whole ordeal was over, she'd paint something gigantic, since hopefully that would be the most overwhelming emotion she felt at the end of this ordeal.

Annoyance was the beginning, so it seemed only apt that she started with the nice small canvas. She saw Edward nod out of the corner of her eye before he stood and moved over to her side, placing a very gentle, very sweet kiss right below her ear, and almost making her let out a bit of an embarrassing noise, thankfully, though, she was able to fight the urge and he just smiled as he stepped away from her and moved to the door.

"I promise, you won't regret letting me stay here. At the very least, you'll get some awesome meals out of this," he said to her, smiling his brilliant, sexy, crooked smile at her.

"Uh, huh," Bella just said back, watching him leave and wondering what on earth she had gotten herself into.

* * *

><p><strong>Well! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! The next one should be up within a week. Please review and let me know what you think. Does it suck? Am I doing dumb things? Am I doing cool things? Is it awesome? Tell me, please! How am I going to know what to keep doingwhat not to keep doing if I don't get told? So ... please review! :)**


	5. Chapter Four

**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy, then review, please! :)**

* * *

><p>Bella was putting her final touches on her piece of art when she heard a knock on her door. Edward had left and come back already, and had definitely been cooking something delicious smelling. She hadn't allowed herself to think too much about what he was doing, because what he was doing for her was definitely charming. She sat down her stuff gently and looked at the door for a second, knowing that the second she left her little art studio was going to be faced with a man that was trying his best to sweep her off his feet.<p>

"Dinner's ready," Edward's voice said through her door and she couldn't help but smile for a moment, though as soon as she realized what she was doing, she forced herself to wipe it off her face, and shake it off.

"Alright, coming. Just gotta do some clean up first," she announced as she put her paints away and what not, placing her canvas somewhere where it was going to be able to dry. As soon as that was taken care of, she walked out into the main room, seeing the lovely dining table, but walking past it so she could wash her hands real quick. It wouldn't taste too good if she accidentally was eating some acrylic paint.

Edward's eyes had just followed her as she had moved about the small loft before moving to the dining room table, taking in the extravagant meal in front of them with a raised eyebrow. It was quite the fancy meal for two people, but it smelled wonderful and looked delicious. And her stomach seemed to agree since it growled loudly in approval of the smell, wanting to taste it already. Edward just chuckled. "My lady," he said, pulling out a seat for her, causing her to roll her eyes.

Still, Bella took the seat without too much complaining, sitting down and waiting for him to take his place. "So, what is it that you made for us here?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow and waiting to eat a little while longer until he told her exactly what it was that she was going to be consuming.

"Well," Edward said, looking across the table at Bella, "We've got some salmon, glazed with brown sugar and seasoned with several spices, to give it just a little bit of a kick. Then, we have some fettuccini alfredo that I made from scratch. Well, everything except the noodles," he said, smiling at her gently, and waiting for her reaction to what he had presented her with.

Bella nodded a little bit at what all had been made and she couldn't help but smile and shake her head a little bit. "Really, Edward? Working so hard to impress me? Well, at least your cooking abilities seem to be decent, but I suppose I should see how this all tastes before I make that call. Remember, if you're a good enough cook, you can stay here, and not be kicked out by me to find a hotel," she said, smiling gently.

"I know. So I did my best to impress you, while leaving room to dazzle you later," he said to her, grinning as he helped himself to some food that he wanted to have. Watching Edward for a moment longer, Bella ended up filling her own plate and started to eat.

To her surprise and delight, the food was incredibly delicious, and she couldn't help but be impressed by Edwards cooking skills. "Alright, well, I believe you have earned your keep. The couch pulls out into a bed, I hope you'll be comfortable there," she said, smiling at him a little bit as she ate the delicious meal that Edward had prepared for her. It was incredibly delicious, so she was thinking that maybe it wasn't going to be so completely terrible and awful to have him around.

"I was hoping that I could share your bed," Edward hedged, raising an eyebrow at Bella as he ate.

Bella just rolled her eyes. "Well, I bet you wish that was so. But, too bad. You get the couch. At least I am letting you stay here," she said to Edward, a smile on her lips as she spoke.

Edward just chuckled and shook his head at her. "I promise, within the week, we'll be sleeping in the same bed. Maybe you'll still want that annulment, but at least we'll be sharing a bed for the time being," Edward asserted, almost like a challenge.

"Now I'm almost determined to prove you wrong. To spite you, more than anything else," Bella said to Edward with a little bit of a smile and a shake of her head.

"That could make things even more interesting. But I still bet we'll share a bed within the week," he insisted to Bella, making her roll her eyes at him while she finished eating her own food before relaxing back in her bed and just shook her head a little bit.

"Regardless of what you think, that was a delicious meal, and now I have to go do a few more things with my painting and then I am going to be going to bed. And you get the couch. Remember that. Couch. Not bed. Couch," Bella insisted, standing up to go and take care of her own dishes though Edward stood and stopped her, pulling the plate out of her hands.

Edward smiled gently at Bella, "Let me take care of you. You have something you want to work on. Go ahead, I've got this," he insisted. Bella narrowed her eyes at him but walked away without argument.

"Just make sure they go back where they belong," she said in reference to the plates as she walked back into her small art studio where she worked on cleaning her brushes even better as well as keeping an eye on how her painting was looking now that it was drying. She had to say, it turned out pretty well, and she was now just starting to think more on what her second painting was going to be focused on.

Probably some sort of complicated emotion that would be fun to represent on a medium sized canvas that she was planning on using for the next one in the series. For now, though, she was thinking she just wanted to go and fall asleep without the worries of Edward bothering her, though she knew that Edward was now determined to find his way into sharing her medium sized bed for the duration of the he spent with her.

Once she had finished in her art studio, she walked out to see Edward working on getting the couch set up to his liking, which made her smile at least a little bit. When Edward noticed she was standing there, he sent a little bit of a crooked smile her way before moving over to where she was standing, looking at her with gentle eyes before he walked right up to her and placed a hand gently on the side of her cheek.

Suddenly it felt like her heart was beating a couple of miles a minute, and she didn't like the sensation, she wanted it to stop. But at the same time, she didn't want Edward's hand to move from its position on her cheek. There was something about the contact that set everything that she was on fire, driving her crazy for more of his touch, more of what he had to offer her.

Slowly, it seemed that his face moved closer and closer to hers, their eyes locked intensely as they stood there in the silence of her small loft. Seconds later, their lips were meeting in a sweet, gentle, tender kiss and everything in her being tingled all over. Against her better judgment, Bella kissed Edward back, though, she eventually pulled back, stepping away and feeling her heart beating fast in her chest as she looked at Edward with wide eyes before shaking her head at him a little bit.

"You … you can't do stuff like that," she said quietly, not really meaning what she said. Currently she would really like to kiss Edward again. But she was supposed to annul the marriage they had, and she wasn't supposed to like the guy she drunkenly married. It wasn't right. But there was something about Edward that made her want to pull him to her and kiss him senseless.

Edward just seemed to raise an eyebrow at her, at the situation at hand. "Well," he said, still almost unbearably close to her, "I beg to differ, but I suppose I can resist kissing you for the rest of tonight. No guarantee's tomorrow, though. Besides, I'm supposed to be sweeping you off of your feet, aren't I? Making you want me? So I kinda have to be able to do stuff like that," Edward said as he smiled at Bella gently.

All she could do was shake her head a little bit at the situation. "I am going to bed. Don't be loud and obnoxious or else I will yell at you and despite your amazing cooking abilities, I am going to force you to find a hotel if you are planning on sticking around too much," she said to Edward moving away from him even though she was so tempted to just let her body press up against his, relax into his lovely muscles and just stay wrapped in his arms all night. Damn. How was he making her want him so easily?

"Alright. Sounds fair enough," Edward said to Bella, smiling at her gently as she walked away from him and moved to where her bed was, watching her as she started to change into her pajamas, though at the last minute he turned away. It wasn't like Bella was completely undressing, she wouldn't do that in front of Edward. He would just take off as much as she usually did. Currently she was already dressed in comfortable clothing, so just changing into different comfortable clothing was all she needed to do, and nothing was revealed that she wouldn't want Edward to see her be doing at all.

Once changed, Bella lay down and turned off the lights, making sure everything was as she liked it best, and she let her eyes slip closed, but she found that, no matter how hard she was trying to fall fast asleep at that particular moment. Her thoughts were being completely taken over by thoughts concerning the lovely and wonderful Edward that was currently sleeping on her couch in all his glory. She hadn't seen him change at all, so she assumed he was probably sleeping without his shirt on or something like that. And at that thought, Bella seriously was tempted to peak one eye open to look and see what he was actually wearing. But she didn't, since she was allowing her imagination to run as wildly as possible.

Bella then forced herself to relax her body and forced her mind to dwell on something other than the possibility of a shirtless, gorgeous man that could kiss her and turn her brain to mush. It was mostly focused on her painting that she had finished, and what she liked and disliked about it and what the best aspects of it were. Of course, not thinking about Edward meant that she was seriously picking apart her artwork.

The whole sleeping thing wasn't really going over as well as she had wanted it to, since at this particular moment she was feeling rather exhausted. Mentally sighing, she gave up fighting her thoughts and allowed herself to dwell on the image of what Edward looked like without his shirt on. Which was essentially very sexy and delicious. So, with thoughts of Edward in her mind, she managed to fall into a somewhat peaceful slumber, dreams about a certain someone that was sleeping in her living room passed through her mind.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope the chapter was enjoyable! Any suggestions are welcome, any criticismspraise, too! ALSO have a very happy valentines day! :) **


	6. Chapter Five

**Well! Here's the next chapter! I hope you like it and please review! Don't make me beg ... **

* * *

><p>When Bella woke the next morning, it was to the sound of a man's voice humming and the scent of some rather delicious breakfast food. Her eyes stayed closed for a little while, her lips turned up into a slight smile as she relaxed in bed, finding Edward's voice rather soothing. Eventually, though, her eyes opened, drawn by the scent of the food to get out of the bed and see what Edward was up to. It wasn't like she had other rooms in her small little loft apart from her art studio, so it was impossible to ignore the scents and sounds coming from her small kitchen area. Standing up, she took the blanket with her since she was rather chilly when she woke.<p>

Glancing at the clock, Bella saw that it was ten thirty and any anger or frustration she might have had at the fact that Edward had woken her disappeared immediately. She smiled a little when she looked over at him, seeing him in one of her aprons, wearing only his pajama pants with it. When she realized that she was smiling a little bit at the situation, she shook her head to wipe the smile off of her face and took a nice, big deep breath, before moving into the kitchen, sitting down on one of her chairs.

"What are you cooking?" she asked Edward in a groggy voice as she worked on waking up a little bit more, rubbing at her eyes a little bit to work the sleep out of them as much as she could manage to do so.

"Something absolutely wonderful and delicious," he answered, stopping his humming in order to do so, a smile obviously on his lips as he turned around and looked at Bella where she was sitting.

Bella just rolled her eyes at Edward's answer at the situation. "Well, then," she said, "I suppose I'm just how to have to trust you on that one. But do you think you could tell me what is exactly the delicious and wonderful food you are making is?" she asked him, waiting to see what he'd answer.

"Fine. My mother's old pancake recipe as well an omelet," he answered her, looking over at where she was sitting before turning back to the food, finishing it up, "Oh, and some breakfast potatoes," he said as he finished the food, plating it and then setting one down in front of her, making her raise an eyebrow at him.

"Why did you cook me breakfast?" she asked him, looking at the food that was in front of her, the whole thing smelt wonderful and she couldn't wait to eat it all.

Edward just chuckled a little bit at her and shook his head, though he prepared to answer her question. "Well, I cooked you breakfast because I felt like treating my wife to some lovely food. And, since it was getting so late, I figured you would like to be woken up by the smell of fresh food," he finished, grabbing himself a plate and sitting down at the table across from her.

She just took a deep breath and shook her head, "Okay, whatever you say. Next time? Wait another thirty minutes," she said to Edward before picking up her fork and starting to eat. When she tasted it, she was blown away once again. It was delicious, just like Edward had promised her it would be. "Where did you learn to cook like this? And if you say your mother, she must have been several times more fantastic than I am at this," she said simply, smiling at him a little bit.

Hearing Bella, Edward let out a bit of a chuckle at her and nodded as a means of answering as he continued to eat his own meal. "Well, she taught me how to cook one weekend at a time. Didn't have much friends growing up, so I spent my time at home. And being at home on the weekend when I didn't have homework meant that I was going to help out with the cooking. And that continued to happen. So I got good at it, fast," he explained to her, smiling gently at the girl at that particular moment.

Bella smiled at Edward and nodded a little bit, "Alright, that's cool. I can't imagine you not having any friends, or not enough that you were going out a bunch. But, whatever you say," Bella said before shrugging a little bit, focusing more on her food now since it really was quite spectacular. She had no idea how Edward had managed to cook something this amazing, but she was seriously enjoying it and was planning on eating everything that he had given her. Once it was finished, she set the dishes aside in front of her and sighed in contentment before standing up and stretching a bit.

"Well, thank you for the breakfast, and now I am going to claim the shower then get to work. Don't disturb me while I'm working, though. I promise, I will probably rip your head off if you do and I was on a roll or something," Bella said to Edward simply before taking her blanket and pulling it with her towards the bathroom, grabbing a towel and some clothing on her way to the bathroom that was next to her studio room.

Slipping inside, she locked the door since she had no idea whether or not Edward would try and be cute and disturb her in her shower for some reason or another. Hopefully he wouldn't. Hopefully she would be allowed to have the time to herself and not be caught up by all the sweet and wonderful things that Edward would do for her, or seemed to starting to be doing for her. Even if all he had done as of yet was cook for her, she was still completely impressed and was glad to take whatever he was giving freely.

Her shower was longer than usual as she had gotten distracted by thoughts of what Edward was doing in her home while she was busy doing her normal things. She knew that Edward was going to start trying to captivate her a little more, win her over and such, but as of yet he had been unable to do just that. Bella would say she had been impressed by him rather completely, but she hadn't been really captivated by him. There was nothing yet about Edward that would make her want to stay married to him, he was practically a stranger to her. She didn't even know what it was that he did for a living! For all she knew, he could be an assassin for the government or something.

Then again, a spy would never get themselves in a position where they were married to some random girl they met in a bar, and apparently was now crazy about and never wanted to get rid of the marriage and move on with their life. She supposed it was quite possible that Edward just was messing with her and this was all some sort of game to him, which would be incredibly frustrating, but she was certain that he was serious, for whatever reason that was. And she didn't much care as long as, eventually, at some point, he left her alone.

Of all things, though, it did not occur to her that he could quite possibly just like her for who she was, and there was nothing more to it than that, or that he might have known her from before Vegas for some reason. But even if that was the case, she probably would have dismissed the thought since she hadn't been very interesting when she was in school or anything.

In high school she was that quiet, artsy, nerdy kid that no one paid any attention to. In college, people started noticing her, and her artwork, and that was when she decided that she wanted to be an artist for the rest of her life, no matter how hard things were or how difficult it was for her to get by, she was going to become an artist. Someday, though, she was sure she would have to get some sort of job, probably something simple and easy. Like working at a grocery store or some other work place of that nature, something part time so she could continue with her art for as long as was possible.

Getting out of the shower, she changed quickly, pulling her wet hair up into a messy bun on top of her head and then she exited, a wave of steam that had built up in the bathroom. "Alright, if you want to shower, you can. Your cooking is good enough to allow that," she said, "Besides, I don't want to live with a stinky person," she said to Edward before dumping her dirty laundry in the bin before she went to her studio to start planning her next art project, and then a couple of seconds later she heard the shower turn on and she knew that Edward must be starting his shower at that moment.

Of course, that made her mind wander to what would have happened if Edward had come into the bathroom while she was showering. Obviously, she would have had to leave the door unlocked, but if it had been open she supposed Edward might have slipped into the shower with her. Slide under the water, join her there and maybe they would slowly work up to something … but something would happen, that was for certain. And before her thoughts could wander any father, she shook her head furiously, trying to clear her head for a moment, think actually clearly. And suddenly, she had an idea for her next painting – lust.

Lust would be perfect. She didn't like that she was attracted to this man, but he really was undeniably scrumptious and she certainly would enjoy being able to have a piece of him at some point in her life. And remember all of it. Her canvas this time was a bit of a medium size this time and she was ready to work at it. This would be all reds and pinks and oranges. Passionate colors.

She was just beginning to start her lusty painting when she felt someone's arms wrap around her waist nice and gentle, and suddenly lips were pressed against her neck and her eyebrows raised at the contact she was feeling, but it was undeniably pleasant. It made her want to encourage more of that contact but then she took a deep breath and turned around, pushing Edward away, and realizing that he was wearing only a towel wrapped around his hips, like he had been when she spoke to him first that morning in Vegas.

"Edward …," she warned, pushing him away, but secretly wanting to stay in contact with him, since she certainly enjoyed the feeling of his soft skin covering his nice, hard muscles underneath her fingertips.

"Bella …," he said to her, smiling at her a little bit before shaking his head a little bit before stepping away from her and moving towards the door.

"You know, I told you not to interrupt me while I was working," she said to him, raising an eyebrow at him in question, since she was wondering what, exactly he had intended to do once he had slipped into this room with her and what not.

"I checked to see if you were painting yet before I walked into this room to distract you, don't want to be making any 'negative' progress," Edward said simply before he smiled a little bit at her, leaning towards her, as if he was going to kiss her lips, and instead he kissed her forehead nice and gentle like.

"How do you know I wasn't in the middle of starting to work?" Bella asked Edward.

"I guessed," he said, shrugging before walking out of the room, "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to put on some clothing, unless you were feeling like you wanted a nude model or something," he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her just a little bit.

All Bella could do was roll her eyes. "Leave me alone, I've got some work to do. And if you felt like sweeping me off my feet today, you're going to have to do that later tonight. I'll be doing this one in a couple of different installments," she said simply to Edward.

"Okay, but you know where I am if you want me," he said, smiling and laughing a little as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him and allowing Bella some peace to work in.

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter will be up within the week! Review's help motivate writing so ... REVIEW! Thanks for reading!<strong>


	7. Chapter Six

**Enjoy the chapter! And do leave a review! :) **

* * *

><p>Bella had finished her first installment of the painting and was successfully smattered with paint across her clothing and her skin. There was hardly any of it on her face, but she was certain there was at least one or two smudges on her forehead, just form her habit of wiping off her forehead without thinking as she had worked. Currently, it was about three in the afternoon, and she couldn't help but wonder what Edward had done all day while she was working away in her nice little hide away. Not that she really cared what he did, but she was curious.<p>

Quickly, she cleaned off her brushes and set them aside to dry so she could continue this painting the next day. Emerging from her studio, she saw Edward sitting at a lap top that he must have brought with him, typing away before her footsteps disturbed him, causing him to look her way and smile at her. She just smiled back in response, unable to help herself from responding to the situation. Shaking her head just slightly, at the fact that he was starting to wear her down already with his damn charms. And that smile, it was almost enough to make her melt into a little pile of sweet goo on the floor. Edward would just love that. Currently, though, she was in need of getting the paint off of her body.

The next thing she knew, Edward's arms were around her waist as she was just drying off her hands, his head resting on her shoulder and his lips right by her ear. "So, Bella, are you excited to see what I have in store for you tonight," he said with a little bit of a smile on his lips.

"Depends," she said simply, not bothering to move just yet as she leaned against the counter, not fighting Edward's contact since she was well aware that she would lose if she actually tried.

"Depends on what?" his honey smooth voice asked playfully in his ear.

"Depends on whether or not you're going to remove your arms from around my waist and move away from me. You are far too close to me at this particular moment," Bella said calmly before she heard Edward chuckle just a little bit into her ear before he moved away from her, and came to lean on the counter next to her, smiling at her with just a hint of a smirk on his lips.

Edward looked her up and down before pushing off the counter, "You'll want to dress up just a little bit for tonight. And make sure you choose some comfortable shoes, we might be doing a lot of stuff on our feet," he said into her ear before chuckling and walking away from her.

"And what if I decide I don't want to dress up?" Bella asked Edward.

"Then you are going to feel very silly when we reach our destination," Edward said simply, making Bella grumble a little bit.

"Fine. Then when are we going to head out?" she asked Edward, knowing that there was no way she would be able to get out of this lovely little arrangement. Of course, she was positive that this night was going to be a good one, even if it was going to be spent with the annoyingly pushy Edward.

"In three hours. I was going to give you a two hour warning if you hadn't finished your painting by then, just in case. I wanted to be sure to give you a long enough heads up about everything," he informed her as she moved to her closet, knowing that she was going to have to start figuring out what she was going to wear for the night. She knew she was going to have to dress up a little nicely, and she definitely had some sexy, dressy outfits for any galleries or what not she was invited to. The dresses were mostly thanks to Alice and Rose. So she was certain to look good in them.

"Alright. I can be ready in three hours. Any hints as to where we're going? Or am I being forced to be surprised?" Bella asked Edward, raising an eyebrow at him in question, wondering what he had in store for her.

All she got in response, though was a little bit of a chuckle. "No, you're getting no hints, sorry to burst your bubble," he said to her with a smile, "But I promise, you are going to love it," Edward said to her.

Bella just rolled her eyes at him and shook her head before going into her closet to look through her dresses and stuff. She finally went with just a simple black one, grabbing that and a pair of decently comfortable shoes, before she moved into the bathroom and started to take her time getting dressed. First, she pulled on the dress that hugged her curves and had a tasteful dip in cleavage, accompanied by a nice slit up the side to show the skin of her legs. Alice said it made her even sexier and she was bound to land more jobs, too.

Once she had the dress on, she pulled on the nice little heels and pulled them on, too. Standing up, she moved to the mirror to begin putting on her make up nice and carefully. She wanted to look good tonight, drive Edward nice and crazy like he seemed to do just by talking to her. This whole situation could certainly back fire on her rather quickly, too.

Once she was done, she had about twenty minutes to spare, since she had certainly taken her time to do all of this. Walking out of the room, she looked over at Edward and smiled at him. "So, I look good enough for tonight's outing?" she asked him, wondering if she was dressed to satisfaction.

Edward's head had turned when Bella had stepped out of the bathroom, and she could have sworn she saw his jaw drop just a little bit at the sight of her, which made her smile smugly at him, at least this time. "I think you look too good. And by that I mean I just might have to worry about other people coming after you tonight. I'll have to keep a nice and close eye on you," he said simply as he smiled at her.

"Well, you won't need to. You see, I still don't want to belong to you, Edward. Hence our annulment? Remember that? I'm just being nice by going out with you and what not," Bella said with a nice and gentle smile before moving to sit down at the table.

He chuckled quietly at her before walking over to where she had sat and tilting her head up so she was forced to look into his eyes. "Bella, don't try and fool yourself. You're going on this date with me because you want to go out with me, and for no other reason. Okay? Now, my beautiful woman, I am going to finish getting ready and then I will sweep you off your feet for the rest of the night," he said, before he just barely brushed his lips against hers eliciting a sigh from her before he pulled back and moved to the bathroom.

Bella's head was spinning as she waited for Edward to come and start their date. She wondered if Edward had brought his own car with him to this place or if he had gotten a cab or something. She figured that he would bring his own car, considering it was quite the drive from LA to her place. Which made her wonder how he had figured out where she lived so quickly that he had arrived back only moments after she had. But she didn't have much time to ponder that thought since Edward was emerging, finally ready for the night in a rather sexy outfit, if she did say so herself.

Looking him up and down, she couldn't help but smile just a little bit at him. "Well, well, well. You look quite snazzy, Edward," she said to him, "If I cared about you being only mine, I would have to worry about other women snatching you up, you look so good," Bella said, not afraid to compliment the man. What was wrong with acknowledging that you were in the presence of a very attractive male specimen?

"Why, thank you, Bella," Edward said with a little bit of a smile on his lips, "I do have to say, though, I would much prefer to be just yours than any other woman's. After all, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever had the fortune of laying eyes on," he informed her.

She only smiled at him and tried not to respond in a sarcastic or ungrateful way. "Well, then. You'll have to prove that tonight, wherever we're going. Lead the way, handsome man," she said, standing and grabbing her bag as she waited for Edward to lead the way.

"As you wish," he said, smiling at her gently as he led her to the door, opening it for her before walking with her to his car – just as she suspected.

The car ride to whatever restaurant they were attending didn't take very long. Only about ten or so minutes, though parking was a pain, and all of a sudden they were walking up to this rather gorgeous restaurant. She couldn't help but be impressed by the obvious beauty of the place and the fact that Edward must have had to do some serious sweet talking to get them a reservation at this sort of classy Italian joint.

"Wow, Edward, I have to say, I am rather impressed," she said, nodding a little bit as she observed the lobby, walking into the restaurant, Edward's arm linked with her own – at his instance. She had been powerless to say to no to him when he looked so damn delicious.

"That was what I was going for," he said, smiling at her before he spoke to the hostess about their reservation, the woman leading them to their table moments later. Bella had to admit, though, she was a little bothered by the way the lady had been checking Edward out, like he was just some nice hunk of meat anyone could look over. For another week he belonged to her, damnit.

And of course, he was still wearing the ring, even though she wasn't, since she refused to encourage him, but his ring was there. She wondered if people would think he was cheating on his wife with her, when in fact she was the wife and was trying to get rid of his annoying presence. She doubted anyone would actually believe that.

"So, Bella, what's your favorite thing to get at Italian restaurants?" he asked her once they were seated and had their waters and menu's in hand, Bella's eyes roaming over the thing as Edward seemed to only have yes for her and nothing else.

"Pasta," she said simply, looking up at him and smiling brightly before looking back at the menu and frowning a little bit, "Why aren't there any prices on this thing?" she asked, looking at Edward in question.

"Because you're not supposed to decide based on price here, after all, this is a rather high-end place," Edward answered her simply with a little bit of a smile.

"Oh, wonderful," Bella said, feeling a little comfortable with this situation, "But I'm not paying for it if it is super expensive," she said to Edward.

He just seemed to chuckle at her comment and shake his head at her lightly. "Silly, Bella. I was going to insist on paying for it myself. I know you don't have that much money, being an artist and all, so it is on me," he said to her with a smile.

"Speaking of being an artist, I have no idea what you do for a living," Bella said, just realizing that she hardly knew anything about this man. Well, not just, but just realizing it enough to begin to inquire about things.

"Well, I am a writer of sorts, and right now, I am in a slump. But, Bella, you seem to be curing me as we speak, so who knows, maybe I'll get back on the proverbial horse. Though, I can't tell you exactly what it is that I do for a little while longer. At least not until you decide you want me to stay around," Edward answered her with his dazzling crooked smile, making Bella want to leap across the table and capture his lips with hers – public place be damned.

Bella just huffed at him and mumbled a fine, randomly deciding on what sort of food she wanted for her dinner before setting the menu aside and taking a sip of water as she looked across the way at Edward, studying him for a moment before she shook her head at herself, knowing that if she allowed herself to keep looking at this man, keep considering him, she would end up falling for him. He was far too charming in every single way for her not to. Being around Edward was dangerous, she deemed. But, as of yet, she didn't have a heart to push him away, this was an excellent example of why she didn't have the will power to turn him down.

She knew, by allowing herself to be around Edward she was going to end up getting herself hurt somehow. But at the moment, she couldn't care less, because she was on a lovely date with a gorgeous man and she couldn't wait to see what he was going to do next.

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter should be up within a week! So you will then get so see more of Bella's date with Edward **


	8. Chapter Seven

**Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! Please do leave a review, they make me happy inside!**

* * *

><p>"So, Edward," Bella said after a couple of moments, wanting to actually have a conversation with him if she was going to be stuck on this date regardless, "Besides being a 'writer of sorts' what do you do?" she asked him, "Like … hobbies and stuff."<p>

Edward smiled a little bit at her and raised an eyebrow at her for a moment. "So now you are interested in me?" he asked, smiling at her a little bit.

Bella rolled her eyes at Edward, "Well," she said, "Do you want me to talk to you or not?" she asked him, knowing that that might prompt him to speak to her a little bit more and stop just staring at him like this. She didn't much care for Edward at this moment, and she suspected that Edward was secretly loving the fact that she was prompting him to speak, giving him an opportunity to say what he needed to.

"Well," Edward started, thinking for a moment, "I love to cook, which you've seen. I am a sy-fy fan. I absolutely love artwork – especially the good stuff, and I am positive that you produce the good stuff, too. I've been in that little studio of yours, and it's spectacular. I've never been married to someone with as much talent as you," he teased Bella, smiling a little bit at the girl as he made the comment.

"Oh, ha ha ha," she said before taking a sip of her water and looking away from where Edward was sitting across from her.

"It is true," Edward said, "And I've never dated anyone as talented either. So, how about you? What do you like to do? Like, hobbies and stuff," he asked Bella, smiling as he asked.

Bella pursed her lips for a second, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to answer Edward's question, but she decided that she ought to answer him if he answered him. "Well, I love to read when I have time to, I love sy-fy, and I also enjoy artwork. Oh! And so you know, I have never been married to someone as obnoxious as you. Let alone dated anyone as obnoxious as you," she said, before pausing a moment, "That's a lie. I've only dated one person more obnoxious than you," she informed Edward before sipping at her water again.

"Oh, really?" Edward said, raising an eyebrow, not missing the fact that they seemed to have some interests that lined up rather nicely. Bella could see a smile forming on Edward's lips and she didn't like that it was showing up there, to her, it said that he was going to end up trying something. And she wasn't sure if she was going to want to resist him when he did.

The next second, a waitress slipped up to their table smiling brightly at … Edward. Not both of them. Just Edward. Bella couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. She might expect that sort of behavior from a waitress at a less classy restaurant, who wouldn't – Edward was gorgeous – but at one as high class as this? Mostly serious couples would come to places like this. Or maybe men that were really trying to impress some girl. But that was besides her point. This girl was only paying attention to Edward, who, at this moment, was still wearing the ring.

"Hi, my name's Jessica," the girl said, mostly to Edward, "You ready to order, or do you need some more time?" she asked, pushing her mediocre sized chest out at Edward. All Bella could do was roll her eyes at the girl and try not to be bothered by what she was doing at the moment, and failing, just a little bit.

"Bella? You ready?" Edward asked her, smiling at her gently, having seen the look of distaste on her face when the waitress had walked up to her.

"Yeah. I'll, uh, have the Fettuccini Alfredo," she said, smiling a little bit at Edward, thankful for his redirection, forcing the Jessica girl to look at her, and recognize that Edward was, in fact, here on a date of some sort. Even if it was an unwilling date, but the girl did not have to know that.

"And I'll have the Cheese Ravioli," Edward said to the girl, but never looking her way, keeping his eyes only on Bella, which made her smile just a little bit, and not for the reason that the Jessica girl probably was thinking. When Bella looked back over at her, she could tell that the girl was a little dejected at the way Edward wasn't paying attention to her breasts, but she wasn't seemingly going to be saying anything just quite yet.

"Alright," the waitress said, "I'll bring you some more water, and put in that order," she said, smiling a little bit at them, making particular eyes at Edward before reluctantly walking away. After all, she did have work to do, and she couldn't spend all night standing at their table, now could she.

When the waitress walked away, Bella made a face after her before turning to look at Edward, who was laughing a little bit at her, causing Bella to narrow her eyes at the man. She didn't like the fact that he was laughing at her, and she felt like he really didn't have the right to laugh. At least for the time being. "What's so funny?" she asked him, her eyes narrowed just a little bit.

"You," Edward answered simply, like she should have known, it was just so incredibly obvious, wasn't it?

"Okay … and why am I so funny?" she asked, having a feeling that she knew where Edward was going with this, but she didn't actually want to acknowledge it. She would much rather pretend that she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, or possibly just ranting about.

"Oh, you know, the whole deal where you were feeling jealous. I saw the way you looked at that waitress, you did not like the way she was staring at me," Edward said, leaning forward to get closer to her as he smiled his delicious crooked grin at her causing Bella to roll her eyes at him.

"So I'm jealous, am I? Well, I'll have you know that I am not in the lease bit jealous of that twat," she informed him, "I just can't stand women that push their chests out at men or try and get with them when they are already obviously with someone else. I mean, I know we're not going to be together much longer – because of the annulment we are still getting – but it's still rude and disrespectful for someone to essentially ignore me and just make goo goo eyes at the hot piece of ass sharing this booth with me," Bella informed Edward simply, feeling a little irritated still, though now it was mostly for the fact that Edward thought she had been jealous. Which, if she was being perfectly honest with herself, she had been. But only a little, itty, bitty, bit.

"Uh, huh," Edward said, just looking at Bella for a moment, "Not at all because you want to keep me all to yourself? Not have any other women looking at the 'hot piece of ass' that's sitting in the booth with you?" he said to her, a small smirk on his lips that made Bella scowl at him.

She just sighed. "Whatever. Don't believe me. You'll just go on thinking what you want to think. But, regardless, you do have to admit that it is slightly obnoxious," she said, taking a sip of at her almost empty water, the Jessica girl coming back to the table to place down a new glass for her, though she only looked at Edward the entire time, batting her fake eyelashes at the man and pushing out her chest just a little bit. Like big breasts were going to tempt Edward away. Ha.

As Jessica had been batting her eyes at a very disinterested Edward, Bella mouthed 'see' at him, not bothering to thank the waitress for the refill of water, like she would usually have done if she was at any other restaurant. Typically, she was extremely polite and kind to anyone that interacted with her, but this sort of behavior annoyed her. It annoyed her when she went out to eat with her brother, Emmett. Her brother … now maybe she could call him in a couple of days and see if he would do her a nice little favor of scaring Edward out of her home … But that would have to wait. She was still stuck on the date with Edward, and the food hadn't even arrived yet. It was still going to be awhile. She could feel it.

"Okay, okay," Edward said to Bella, nodding a little bit at her from across the table, looking at the girl in distaste as she walked away before turning his attention back at her, "I can see what you mean. It is kind of annoying. It's like, when men hit on a girl that is currently unavailable. Whether it's because she's dating someone, on a date, or with another friend. It's kind of annoying," he said to her with a small smile, "But it's also annoying when the girl you are on the date with pretends not to want anything to do with you, but when you both know the exact opposite," he said, smiling at her a little bit.

"I am glad you agree with me, Edward," Bella said simply, deciding not to respond to the second half of his statement. The next moment, some random waiter brought their food to them, placing it on the table and ordering them to enjoy their food and let 'Jessica' know if they needed anything else. Bella had to admit, the food looked absolutely delicious and wonderful.

She had no idea how much this meal had cost Edward, or was going to cost him, or if it was going to be worth the price tag it had, but she figured that it didn't really matter in this situation, after all, none of the meals had a price on them, so that must mean that they were all equally as good. Or all as equally over priced as the restaurant didn't want to betray just how much they were charging their customers for food that wasn't as spectacular as it ought to be for that particular price.

When Bella took her first bite of food, smiling over at Edward, she couldn't help but let out a little bit of a moan at the flavors. It was absolutely wonderful, better than Edward's cooking. Which was saying something. And, she determined that whatever the price on this meal had been, it was more than reasonable. Even if it was something absolutely and completely ridiculous. Whoever the chef was, they must have been absolutely fantastic.

"This … is amazing," Bella said, taking another bite of her meal as Edward slowly worked on his, looking over at her with a bit of a bemused smile on his face, making Bella raise an eyebrow at him in question, wondering why he was looking at her that way.

"Did you think I would bring you somewhere that didn't serve outstanding food? Of course not! You are far too special not to be treated like a Queen," he informed her simply before smiling gently and working at his food. All Bella could do was blush and work on her own meal as she tried to ignore Jessica the few times the girl had walked by, asking how things were tasting, while licking her lips at Edward. But, once again, Edward only ever looked at her while Jessica was standing at the table, which made Bella feel exponentially better about herself. Even though she still wanted to get their marriage annulled.

Since that was the smart, responsible, reasonable choice for her to make.

Right?

* * *

><p><strong>So! Next update will be within a week! Thanks for reading and Reviewing. (hint hint)<strong>


	9. Chapter Eight

**Here is the next chapter! I hope it's enjoyable and please do leave a review when you're done reading! **

* * *

><p>The rest of the meal passed by with more simple conversation, Edward continuing to ignore the presence of Jessica and her rather obnoxious advances. Bella was certain on many occasions that she wasn't going to be able to keep herself from smacking the girl across the face. Maybe she and Edward weren't in a real relationship, but she found the behavior disgusting and she just didn't want to deal with it anymore. Finally, though, they had paid the bill (which Edward had not allowed her to see) and they were heading out.<p>

Apparently, before they were allowed to go back to her house, there was one more thing that Edward wanted them to do. He had said he had done some research about the area while Bella had been busy painting, and he had figured out a nice and extremely romantic place for the two of them to walk around for a little bit after their meal. He said he wanted to have nice scenery while they worked off all the food they ate at the restaurant but Bella had a sneaking suspicion that Edward was planning something else.

Bella had been to this little 'romantic spot' that Edward was having them walk around before, usually it was when she couldn't think of anything she wanted to paint, so she would come here and sketch this place or paint it with a different sort of mood in mind. She had a whole series of those started. Not many of them were very good, because she usually did that when she was in a creative slump, but, she was sure that Edward was going to bring a different perspective of this place to her. She just wondered if it was going to be a positive or negative one.

"So, Bella, I hope you enjoyed dinner," he said to her, having taken her hand in his as they walked, and Bella, not having the energy to push him away, just allowed their hands to stay locked together as they strolled through the park.

"For the most part," she said, nodding a little bit, not wanting to lie to this beautiful, annoying, man.

"I'm glad, I was hoping you'd have a good time," Edward said to her, smiling down at her.

"I'd be concerned if that hadn't been your goal. I mean, I still don't like that you wouldn't let me see the bill and all, but, you know, I suppose I have to live with not knowing what almost grotesque amount of money you paid for our food," Bella said, looking up at Edward with a little bit of a smile.

"Oh, don't worry. There is hardly any amount of money that looks grotesque to me, except maybe the occasional pay check," he said to her, winking. Bella just rolled her eyes. She couldn't tell if Edward was being truthful, saying that he was filthy rich, or if he was just messing with her. Either way, she chose not to say anything on that matter.

"Whatever you say. You know, tonight doesn't change anything, about the annulment," she said to Edward, not wanting to give him the wrong impression.

"Oh, I didn't think it would change that. At least not yet. You see, Bella, I know you're a tough girl, someone that it can be difficult to get through to. But, I am determined. This was just the first step in my rather elaborate plan to get you to agree to stay married to me," Edward said to her, smiling at her gently.

"Uh, huh. Whatever will help you sleep at night …," Bella trailed off, looking off to the side, at the little pond that she had painted so many times in the past, the stars from the sky reflecting off of the mirror like surface of the water. She remembered painting that simple scene so many times, all in different stages of emotions … all of them unique. Some of her best were of this part of the little 'romantic' park.

"You know what would help me sleep at night?" Edward said, leaning closer to her as Bella turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

"No, what?" she asked him, curious as to what Edward was going to end up answering her with.

"Well, sleeping in a bed for one. And, more importantly, sleeping next to you, he said, smiling a crooked smile at her, making her heart flutter just a bit before she shook her head at him.

"No, Edward. You are not getting to sleep with me in my bed," she said to him dryly, "You get to stick to the couch."

"Oh, come on. We are married after all. It's a good thing if a husband and wife share a bed," he said, smiling as he spoke to her.

"Maybe, but remember the whole deal with getting this whole marriage thing to go poof? Yeah, that's still happening, Edward," she said to him.

"Come on, surly sharing a bed with me wouldn't be that bad," Edward said.

"I'm pretty sure it would be. No offence, but I don't really like you enjoy yet to want to sleep next to you," Bella said, narrowing her eyes at Edward, knowing that there was something going on inside of his head at this moment, she just had no idea what it was, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to know.

"Well, do I get any chances to prove you wrong? Make you change your mind?" Edward asked.

"Hmmm …," Bella said, tapping her lip with a finger from her free hand, "Nope."  
>"Come on, that's just not fair. How am I supposed to win you over if I don't' even get a chance," Edward asked her with a bit of a pleading smile on his lips.<p>

"Well, you're just supposed to keep on trying to figure out to get me to say 'yes' I suppose," she said to him, shrugging a little bit, not liking where this was going.

"Hmmm …," Edward said, pondering something before he slowed them to a stop on the path, right underneath a willow tree where they were hidden from view of anyone else that might be in the area at the same time, "Maybe if I kiss you that'll change your mind?" Edward said, turning Bella so she was facing him, making her raise an eyebrow.

"Doubt it," she said to him, almost as a challenge, but not really at the same exact time. She didn't know if she wanted to be kissed by Edward. Every time he kissed her, it seemed to make her defenses weaken.

"No harm in trying then," he said to her, his voice incredibly soft as his face was now extremely close to hers, his warm breath fanning across her lips as he smiled at her a bit.

"I suppose," she said to him, her heart beat having picked up a bit the closer he had gotten to her.

Bella heard Edward chuckle nice and softly as he closed that short distance between them, his lips connecting with hers in a nice sweet and slow kiss, wonderfully delicious in every way. Their hands were still clasped together, though Edward let go in order to rest his hand on her lower back as one of her hands floated up to rest on the side of his face, urging the kiss forward against her better judgment.

She swore she could feel this all the way down to her toes, the delicious sensation of being kissed by Edward making her feel like if he asked her to, she would fly at this moment. In fact, as long as she would be able to continue kissing him, well, she would let him sleep in the same damn bed as her. It was almost saddening to think how quickly her defenses had fallen down after such a simple thing as a kiss.

At first, Bella had been expecting Edward to pull away after a couple of seconds, like the other times he had kissed her, but this time seemed to be different, since he didn't stop. Since he didn't pull away from her for whatever reason, and she honestly couldn't have been a happier person. His tongue had snuck out of his mouth to trace her lips, asking for entrance and she eagerly and happily opened her mouth to him. She never wanted this kiss to end, but, eventually, Edward pulled back from her, a smile on his lips as he was panting a little bit, just like she was. There was a smile on his lips, and Bella was pretty sure that she looked rather dazed and out of sorts. But what woman wouldn't be after a kiss like that one?

"Bella?" she heard Edward's honey smooth voice said as she looked up at him.

"Hmmm?" she asked him.

"Can I sleep in the bed with you tonight?" he asked her, "No funny business, I promise," he said, his hand resting on the side of her face, gently stroking her soft skin there.

"O-okay," she said, nodding a little bit, "Yeah. As long as there is no funny business," she said to him.

Edward grinned at her and nodded. "Alright, no funny business," he said, "Would be alright if I kissed you again, though?" he asked her softly.

"Yeah, I think that would be okay," Bella said, nodding a little bit as a smile turned the corners of her lips upward just the slightest.

"Good," Edward said, nodding a bit as his lips met hers again, the kiss lasting just as long as the last one as their tongues tangled together, Edward's warm hands holding her body to his in a delicious way that she never wanted to end. Why on earth had she thought she could resist this man? He was far too tempting for her own sanity to have any chance of overcoming her damn hormones.

This was fine, sharing a bed for just sleeping was fine, as long as … as long as the annulment still happened eventually. Yeah. She could do this stuff with Edward as long as the annulment still ended up happening, right? She could balance that?

When Edward pulled away from the kiss, she was still in a bit of a daze, a happy one. "Come on," he said to her, wrapping an arm around her waist as he pulled her to his side where she seemed to fit perfectly, or at least that was how she felt about being tucked into his side like this, "Let's get you home and into bed," he said, his lips pressing against the top of her head.

The sweet gesture made a smile move across her lips and she was unable to help herself as she leaned into Edward's warm body as they walked back to the street nice and slowly, hailing a cab rather quickly and shortly they found themselves back at her place, letting themselves in before Bella quickly went to put on her pajamas, still in a bit of a pleasant haze from the two kisses that Edward had given her.

Those seemed to be like a drug to her, and that was going to make this whole resisting him thing a whole lot more difficult. She had already agreed to allow him to sleep in the same bed as her, and she was wondering how big of a mistake that was. She just hoped it wasn't a mistake that was going to ruin her completely. Then again, maybe the bigger mistake she had made was allowing Edward to kiss her, and by doing so, betraying the fact that she was completely and totally helpless when it came to his kiss. She was putty in his hands after one of those.

Once in pajamas, she made her way to her bed, seeing that Edward was already laying there in his pajamas, smiling at her. Bella just rolled her eyes. She wasn't about to change her mind about Edward sharing the bed with her, though she was sorely tempted to do so, just to bother him. But she resisted the huge temptation.

"You're not going to try and kick me out, right?" Edward asked her, laying on his side as he watched her get comfortable in her bed next to him.

"No, I said you could sleep in the bed, and I meant it. Just … don't try anything, okay?" she said to him, raising an eyebrow at him.

Edward just chuckled at her a little bit and shook his head before leaning over and placing a brief kiss on her lips that left her wanting more from him. "I promise. No funny business," he said before she eyed him, nodded once and then turned away from him, clicking the light off as she seemed to quickly fall asleep, forcing herself to forget the extremely attractive man that was now sharing this bed with her.

Boy, was she in trouble.

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter will be up within the week! Leave a review, pretty please! They make me smile inside. :) <strong>


	10. Chapter Nine

**Well! I hope you all like this chapter! AND as always, I love reviews! So please leave one. :D **

* * *

><p>When Bella woke up the next morning, she felt something warm around her waist, against her back, and resting against the top of her head. At first she couldn't remember for the life of her why there was someone sharing her bed, but the next moment she remembered giving into Edward's request to share the bed with her. She knew she hadn't agreed to Edward doing this, and in her book, this certainly counted as funny business. Stirring a little bit, she tried to readjust herself, but that caused the sleeping Edward to just pull her closer to his chest before he nuzzled his head into the back of her neck a little bit.<p>

A small smile played on Bella's lips when he did so. She wasn't entirely sure what to think of this situation and his closeness to her, but she decided she didn't really mind, though she would be giving him some trouble for all the 'funny business' he was getting up to at this particular moment. Her eyes fell closed again as she pretend to sleep, not wanting Edward to know that she was currently very much awake and aware of his arms around her.

Eventually, she could feel Edward stirring behind her, his breathing speeding up as his body shifted, and she heard him chuckle a little bit, smiling to himself, she guessed. Bella felt his lips press against the top of her head before his warm body left hers and she shivered a bit as the cold air hit her skin while she was lying in the bed. She heard him chuckle at that again as she rolled over in her "sleep," spreading out now that his body was gone. The next moment she felt his soft lips on her forehead before his footsteps moved away from her, heading towards her kitchen.

When she started to smell food, again, she allowed herself to stir from her fake slumber, getting out of the bed and wrapping herself in a blanket as she moved into the kitchen, seeing Edward cooking something for them. "Cooking breakfast again?" Bella said, "What possibly for? I already agreed to let you sleep in the same bed as me," she said to him as she smiled a little bit, relaxing in one of her uncomfortable chairs.

Edward chuckled at what she had said, shaking his head at her a little bit. "Well, I still want you to let us stay married, of course. And, because I want to. Is there something wrong with my wanting to cook for you? I quite enjoy making you happy in any way I can," he informed her, making Bella roll her eyes and shake her head a little bit at the situation.

"Oh, I see. So you think food is the way to getting me to agree?" she said, smiling a little bit at Edward.

"Yes," he said very seriously as he continued his cooking, "And, it is something that I will continue to want to do for you, even after you have agreed to stay married to me," Edward informed Bella.

"Whatever you, say Edward," Bella said as she stayed sitting, just watching the man cook for her.

"You know, Bella, cooking for you is one of my favorite things to do," Edward informed her.

"Really? And why do I find that hard to believe," Bella said dryly.

"Really. And I promise I am not just saying this. Also, your breakfast, is served," Edward said to her, turning around and placing the food in front of her with a little bit of a smile on his lips, which made Bella roll her eyes just a little bit.

"Okay. And thank you, Edward. For making breakfast. Again," she said to him with a little bit of a smile as she started to eat.

This man was far too hard to keep disliking. She was starting to see fewer and fewer reasons why they should annul the marriage. After all, if he was this wonderful, why would it be so bad for her to stay married to Edward? Right. Because she had only known him for three days. Maybe he wasn't all that bad, but that didn't mean she should stay married to him. It would be much better to get the annulment and then … if Edward was still interested in her … they could maybe date?

But staying married was most definitely the wrong choice, after all, there was a good chance that Edward was hiding some sort of dark secret about himself from her until it would be too late to do anything about it. Though she was sure that in a few days all of this would be taken care of, and she could get on with her life without this pesky little complication.

"Well, Edward, this is a pretty fantastic breakfast," she said to the man, looking up at him with a bit of a smile as he was now sitting next to her, eating his own meal with a small smile on his face as he did so. She had the extreme urge to roll her eyes at him as he smiled brightly at her.

"Why thank you, Bella. I'm glad to hear my cooking talents are appreciated," he said to her, smiling gently at her before he quickly finished up his food while she did the same. He cleaned up after their meal as Bella stood up and got herself a cup of coffee, leaning against the counter as she looked over at Edward, smiling a little bit.

After he had finished cleaning the dishes up, she decided to ask him a question that was rather stuck in her mind. "Edward, why is it that you want to stay married to me? I know you have told me before, but … but why? You don't know me at all, for God's sake we met in Vegas where I was acting the least like myself! If you really want to stay married to me and all … I deserve to know the full real reason that you want to stay married to me, don't I?" she asked him as she waited for Edward's answer, wondering what he was going to tell her when he spoke.

For a long moment he was completely silent, standing across from her in the kitchen, thinking for a little while before he sighed a little and took a few steps towards her, wrapping his arms around Bella's waist and making her set down her cup of coffee as he looked into her eyes and prepared to speak. "Well, it's a bit of a complicated answer. But, the beginning of the matter is I … know you for something before. It was a long time ago, and I was a very different person then, so you wouldn't remember me. But you really haven't changed, Bella. Back when I knew you, you were beautiful and sweet and caring, just like now. You were an amazing artist and I wanted to tell you that, many different times. But I never got the chance. Years passed before I got to see you again, and that was in Vegas. And … I think I just couldn't give up the chance of being able to call you mine, for certain and all. But, Bella, I never planned this, it just happened. And you have no idea how glad I am that it did," he said to her, moving one had to her cheek and placing it there gently before leaning in to kiss her lips gently.

"Well, Edward," Bella said after he was finished speaking, "It sounds like you are a stalker," she said, raising an eyebrow at him, "Shouldn't that give me even more reason to want to get rid of you," she said to him.

Edward just chuckled at her and kissed her forehead, shaking his head. "I told you, Bella, I didn't plan what happened. It just did. And I already knew you, that's why I want to stay married to you, Bella. Also, I want to give you a chance to get to know the person I am today, so you get to know me and want me to stay with you. And maybe … in a couple of weeks, I will to tell you how I know you," Edward said to her as he stayed with his arms wrapped around her waist, and Bella was glad. She liked the feeling of having his arms around her. Even though logic was telling her that Edward was a crazy stalker.

"Okay. As long as you promise not to do anything creepy while you are in my house, okay?" Bella said to him, smiling a bit before placing her hands on top of his, moving them away from her as she moved away from him, picking up her cup of coffee and taking a sip of that before moving back to where her bed was located.

Edward just rolled his eyes at Bella but nodded. "Fine, I won't do anything creepy while I'm here," he said to her with a small smile, leaning against the counter as he watched what she was doing. "I mean, except for watch you all the time, just because you are such an incredibly beautiful woman," he informed her, making her smile a little bit as she sipped at her coffee and went to get her clothing for the day.

"That is far too creepy for me to handle," Bella teased as she set her finished cup of coffee down and pulled out some cloths for her to wear as she heard Edward chuckling a little bit as he moved to the living room.

"Oh, well, that's too bad. That's the one thing I'm not willing to stop doing," Edward said to her, smiling at her a little bit as she brought her things to the bathroom as she shook her head at the actions of Edward. He entertained her far too easily.

Once she had showered and changed, she emerged from the bathroom to see Edward sitting there, watching the news before he noticed she was standing there. Once he noticed, he turned off the television and stood up, moving over to where she was at the moment, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning down so he could kiss her neck nice and gently.

"Will you stop that? All the sweet little kissing and stuff, it makes me like you more," Bella said to Edward with a little bit of a smile as she looked up at him, feeling him kiss at her neck a little bit more.

"You know, that is the intention," Edward said against her skin before moving to kiss her forehead and then her lips, very sweetly and gentle-like.

"Mmm, I suppose you are succeeding, then," she said to Edward with a little bit of a smile on her face before Edward leaned in and kissed her one more time before he moved away from her, making Bella sigh a little bit.

"I'm glad. I've been trying to be successful for quite some time now," Edward informed her, "But I think I ought to allow you to do some of your painting, since that is what you have been intending to do, if I'm not mistaken? And I have some work of my own to do, inspired by my beautiful little muse, here," he said to her, kissing her once again, Bella suspected that he wasn't able to resist one more.

Bella just laughed a little bit before shaking her head at Edward. "I do have some painting to do, you are right, but you aren't necessarily being successful. You just think you are," she said, smiling at him as she moved towards her studio as Edward laughed a little as she walked away.

"Oh, I think I am," Edward said as he moved towards the bathroom himself, intending to shower as Bella had, "And don't even try and deny it any more. You like me. Maybe not as much as I would like you to just yet, but you still like me," Edward teased her, smiling all the while.

"Yeah, right," Bella said, smiling just the same. Edward was starting to get to her, more and more every moment. How much longer could she resist him?

* * *

><p><strong>The next chapter will be up within a week! Have an awesome daynight. :D**


	11. Chapter Ten

**Yay! This is the next chapter! Woohoo! Yippiee! Enjoy. And do consider leaving a review. :D**

* * *

><p>As soon as she was being left alone by Edward, Bella found herself making her way into her nice little art studio, ready to start the next layer of her lust painting. She knew that this whole feeling of wanting Edward wasn't going to be going away any time soon, it was obvious to her with the way she was affected by his kisses. And that was all they were, he hadn't even tried anything else with her as of yet, though, if she was being honest with herself, she couldn't wait for him to try. Of course, she wouldn't admit that to him any time soon, then again, he was finding mighty wonderful ways to wear down her walls that she had so carefully tried to put up, but he was far too stubborn and wearing them away as of now.<p>

Regardless, now she was focus on her lust painting, trying to convey the way she felt about Edward at this particular point. Bella was certain that sometime today Edward was probably going to try another something with her, and she was certain she was going to like it. Bella could remember when she had told him that she wouldn't allow him to share her bed, but somehow he had managed to weasel his way into it within a day or so. If she hadn't been trying to resist him, she would be impressed. Maybe someday in the far off future she would allow herself to be impressed by how well he worked and just how easily he seemed to manipulate her.

With thoughts of Edward's tantalizing kisses in her head, she worked on the second layer of her painting, and when she finished, she couldn't help but be rather satisfied with it, though she knew there was a little bit more of this painting to go before it was completely finished, at least by her standards. After all, she usually spent a good week after finishing a painting touching it up or finding things she didn't like about it, unless it had turned out exactly the way she had wanted it to, which was only half as often as she would like it to happen.

Being finished with her painting for the day, she cleaned off her brushes and walked into her living room, seeing Edward sitting in the kitchen, his lap top out and his fingers flying across the key board as she walked to the sink so she could wash her now paint covered arms. "So, what's all this about?" she asked him, gesturing to the computer and his typing fingers. When his head rose, it looked like he had hardly even noticed her presence in the room.

Edward quickly recovered, and met her gaze with a dazzling smile. "Just writing, thanks to my new muse I suddenly seem to have plenty to write about, and it all seems to come rather easily to me," he informed her with a little bit of a smile, unable to help himself as he looked at Bella, making the girl roll her eyes at him before she walked over and leaned on her counter looking at him a little bit.

"Well, if you have more to write because of the inspiration that has struck you, I will just take care of lunch. And I'll be nice and make you something, because you haven't been totally awful to be around," she informed him as she started to go to her fridge where she had her materials for cooking, she wouldn't make anything fancy, but she would certainly make something delicious for Edward and herself to eat.

When Edward chuckled at her a little bit, she couldn't help but smile, but she didn't say anything. "Well," Edward said, "If you insist on cooking, I suppose I should let you. That is typically the woman's job isn't, it?"

"Oh! You just lost your food privileges," she informed Edward with a smile, shaking her head at him, "You shouldn't have said that, you know. Now I'm not going to feed you," she informed him with a bit of a playful smile.

"Come on, Bella! Don't be like that! You know you like me, don't you want to feed me? How else am I supposed to survive?" Edward protested, standing up and leaving his computer where it sat on the table, moving so he could wrap his arms around Bella's waist, "Is there anything I can do to make it so you will cook for me instead of just give me that disappointed look of yours?" he asked her.

Bella pretended to think for a moment as she stood nice and close to Edward, encircled by his arms. "Well, I suppose if you let go of me and maybe give me a nice quickly little kiss I could possibly forgive you enough to maybe feed you a little bit of food," Bella suggested as she shrugged, "No promises, though," she informed him with a bit of a smile.

"Oh, well, if that's all you want, I'll give you the kiss first," Edward said, bending his head down just a little bit so he could kiss Bella on the lips, making the girl smile in response before she stepped away from him a little bit, Edward's arms dropping from their former place around her waist, his face broken up by his brilliant, crooked grin.

"Mmmm," Bella said once Edward had stepped away, "Okay, I suppose I can make you something to eat," she said to him like she was feeling a little bit reluctant still about cooking for him. Edward just rolled his eyes in response to her before going back to his sleek black computer and typing away on the machine, as he still seemed to have that inspiration he had been telling her about a few minutes ago.

Bella had only been cooking for about ten minutes, working on boiling water and chopping up various things when she heard a knock on her door. She knew there was a good possibility that it was Rose or Alice dropping by to ask her what was up with her, and if the Edward guy had done anything crazy. Since she hadn't actually told them that he had shown up at her house and they were kind of now on good terms … crap, she was going to have to do that. And they were probably going to guilt her into a shopping trip since she waited so long to tell them about the whole Edward deal. Bella did suppose she deserved that sort of thing.

Hearing the knock again, Bella quickly went to the door to answer it, leaving her slowly starting to boil water unattended except for Edward for the time being. Opening her door, she couldn't help but be surprised to see her brother standing there "Emmett? What the hell are you doing here!" she asked him she wrapped her arms around the giant of a man in a nice big hug.

Emmett's pair of tree trunks wrapped around her and lifted her off the ground in the hug. "Lil' sis! I told you, I was planning on stopping by sometime this month …. And it's sometime this month, so I technically told you I was coming. Now, I smell something starting to be cooked in here, so I suppose I arrived at the right time!" Emmett said, setting Bella down and allowing her to let him into her house.

Bella stepped aside and let her brother into the house, his large frame taking up an almost inordinate amount of space as she shut the door behind him, his bag dropping to the floor where he entered. She had completely forgotten about the fact that Edward was sitting at her kitchen table, and the fact that Emmett probably had no idea what was going on at this particular moment in time, even though she had contemplated calling him and using him to get rid of Edward, though now that idea seemed quite silly.

Emmett crossed his arms across his rather broad chest and looked over at Edward with narrowed eyes and then turned to look at his little sister, raising an eyebrow at her and waiting for her to tell him something about the situation that was at hand. Edward seemed to either not have noticed Emmett's arrival, which Bella found highly doubtful since the man was so incredibly loud whenever he entered any room, even one that was supposed to be quiet in nature. Such as any library. The other option was that he was pretending not to have noticed until Bella gave the cue for him to introduce himself.

"Oh, yeah. Emmett, that is Edward my uh … friend?" she said, her voice a little questioning. She honestly wasn't sure what Edward was to her, he could be many different things, by different peoples deffinations, but she wasn't sure which one she really wanted to use. He wasn't a completely nuisance any more. She didn't want to call him her husband, which he was technically, since it would make Emmett freak out. He wasn't her boyfriend, he wasn't a completely stranger, he wasn't … anything you could slap a label on. So she supposed friend was the best way to describe him at this particular moment at time.

At the mention of his name, Edward lifted his head and looked over at where Bella was standing next to Emmett, smiling a little bit he stood and moved away from his computer, leaving whatever he had been writing sitting open on the desktop. Suddenly Bella got an urge to go and look at what it was, exactly, that he was writing. Maybe it was something embarrassing, and that was why he didn't tell her what it was that he did for a living, but, of course, that wasn't something she would do.

"Hi, I'm Edward, and you are … ?" he said, trailing off, and Bella realized that it probably wasn't obvious to him who Emmett was, even though she felt like it ought to be.

"Emmett. Bella's _older brother,_" he said, narrowing his eyes a little bit as he eyed Edward and Bella just rolled her eyes at the situation in front of him.

"Great. You have met each other, now, I am going to get to doing some more cooking and then I am going to figure out if I have to make you sleep at a hotel or if you can take the couch," she said to Emmett with a little bit of a smile before heading into her kitchen and starting to work on her nice little meal once again. She was going to make some sort of noodles, and a lot of them, especially since Emmett had just shown up, along with some nifty side salads that she knew she would like, even though she wasn't sure if either of the boys that were currently in her house would like them as much. Though she had a feeling that Edward wouldn't complain even if she put a burnt and charred corpse of some road kill in front of him, but Emmett would. That was certain.

"So, Bells, what's new in your life besides Edward?" Emmett asked, taking a seat close to his sister in the kitchen.

"Well, I'm starting some new paintings and stuff, a nice little series based on emotions. We're going to see how they turn out. Each frame is going to get bigger and bigger as the emtoins intensify over time, until my final large canvas is going to be the most powerful emotions and stuff," she said to Emmett with a bit of a smile as she worked on the food, already getting close to finishing. A salad and some noodles really wasn't the most difficult thing to make in the world.

"Coolio. Aren't you going to ask me what's new?" Emmett prompted as Bella was draining the noodles.

"Maybe I don't care. But yes, I was going to ask you what's new. So, what's new, bro?" she asked him, looking over her shoulder at her brother as she got even closer to finishing their nice little meal.

"Well, I got a new job … and guess what? It's in the area! I'm going to be living, like three blocks away from you now. How fantastic is that?" Emmett said, grinning at Bella.

"Oh my god Em! I can't believe this!" Bella squealed before essentially bouncing over to where he was standing and she wrapped her arms around him in a nice tight hug. "You're going to be in the area! This is fantastic! We can actually do stuff together now. I've got so many questions for you now, Emmett Swan. And you're going to answer them all. While we eat lunch, that way you eat slow enough that I can be sure that I get to eat something, as well as Edward," she said.

"Of course," Emmett said.

"Good. Edward, finish your sentence and close your computer, time to eat. And no mocking my mediocre cooking skills. I know yours are far superior, but the important thing is that you are being fed and that my brother is going to tell me, and by default you, all about his brand new job and the place he is going to be working and his new job," Bella said, smiling, "Right, Em?"

"Right, Bells. But first, I want to get some food on mah plate!" Emmett exclaimed, making Bella roll her eyes at her brother's antics.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, so the next chapter should be up in a week, but recently my family had their basement flood, so my house is in a bit of extreme disarray. Meaning it's hard to find time to do stuff and places to do it, so if it takes me longer than a week, that's why. Hopefully, though, it won't inhibit me too much. Well ... I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please leave a little review for me! Thanks! You rock, people that review, btw. :D<strong>


	12. Chapter Eleven

**So sorry it has taken me this long to put out this chapter! Life has been hectic, especially with my high school graduation in, like, two weeks. This has been the first time I have had enough free time to write something! So sorry it has taken me so incredibly long to update, but now things should be back to a somewhat normal schedule of one update a week. Well, enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

><p>Bella had plated Emmett rather quickly and the man proceeded then to shovel food down his throat as Edward sat across from her at the table, making weird faces at her occasionally. She knew that Edward knew who Emmett was, she had introduced him and what not, but, she hadn't really introduced Edward quite yet, since she was certain that Emmett was going to question her further on who this Edward guy was and what sort of involvement in her life he had, and she certainly was not looking forward to that conversation.<p>

"Okay, Emmett, now that you have had some food, are you going to tell me about your new job? Or are you just going to sit there and concentrate on digesting first?" she asked her brother, smiling a little bit as she did so, seeing Edward looking bemused out of the corner of her eye as she sat there.

"So not funny, Bells. I thought we were past the food jokes," Emmett said, pretending to be upset by the comment she had made at that moment.

"Oh, Emmett. We will be past the food jokes the day you stop eating mammoth amounts of it," she informed him with a bit of a smile, seeing Edward shaking his head out of the corner of his eyes.

"Ouch. That really hurts me, Bells. Maybe I need to bring back the pipsqueak jokes about you," Emmett teased before Bella punched him playfully in the arm, "Hey! That actually hurt! Fine. No pipsqueak jokes then. But, I will watch you clean the dishes up while I tell you about my new job," Emmett said to Bella.

Edward interrupted then. "How about I do the dishes and you talk to your brother about his new job instead. After all, I do believe it is my turn to do it," he said, smiling a little bit at Bella, having enjoyed watching the way the two siblings interacted with one another.

"Okay, works for me," Bella said with a shrug as Emmett watched the way the two seemed to interact. Emmett could already tell that these two weren't just friends as Bella had introduced Edward as, meaning that he was certainly going to have to inquire to her about his relationship to her.

"I'm fine with whatever as long as I don't have to do any of the clean up," Emmett said seriously as he relaxed in the dining room chair he was sitting in.

"Of course, my nice and lazy brother that never bothers to contribute to the meal, making me do all the clean up work even though I tend to be the one that sustains his stomach whenever he is around," Bella said, picking on Emmett a bit before Edward started the dishes. "So, tell me about your new job," she said, actually excited to hear about what Emmett was going to get to do.

"Well, I got hired by this guy named Jasper, who runs a particular branch down here. He said he liked my attitude and life outlook, I believe. Anyway, that's not really important, but I am going to be a sales representative for their line of drugs here. So, basically, a bigger position as a pharmaceutical drug salesman. I will actually be in charge of the whole region and all the actual salesmen will have to report to me, and I will monitor all their sales as well as make some of them myself to the bigger players in the medical world. I'm really excited about it because they especially have some drugs that really do help people and have minimal side effects, unlike that other company I was working for before I got this opportunity. Anyway, it just seems like I have a lot more opportunities with this new place than I ever did at the old one, you know?" Emmett finished up as Bella nodded a little bit.

"Yeah, I know. You going to be working closely with your boss? Or is he just going to be a distant figure far off in the upper branches of the company?" she asked Emmett, wondering just how high up he would be if he was in charge of multiple actual pharmaceutical drug salesmen.

"I'll be meeting with him about once a week to discuss the state of everything and how well various employee's are working. Nothing too serious, but he said we'd do it over a good lunch or some coffee, better to talk about serious things in a better environment. It would also mean that no one from our company would be trying to overhear our conversation and spread it about the building. After all, I get to be the professional snitch on people," Emmett said.

"Wow, Em. You really have an impressive new job. I'm proud of you. Not often that you get an opportunity like this," Bella said, honestly excited for her brother, "And not to mention, you'll be able to come to any art gala's or something that I have now, instead of just hearing about the few I get now and again. Exciting, huh?" Bella said with a bit of a grin.

"Exactly! That was one of the biggest bonus' about the job. Anyway, now something far more important to discuss than my job. Can we go to your little studio and you can show me some of the stuff you've painting since my last visit?" Emmett asked, really just planning on inquiring as to the relationship she had with this Edward guy. He seemed nice enough, but he had big brother duties to fulfill.

"Sure, I've got some pretty cool stuff to show you," Bella said, standing up and walking with Emmett into the studio, leaving Edward alone to finish cleaning the dishes and then resume whatever work he had to do. Bella was completely oblivious to the fact that Emmett was planning to grill her on how she felt about this Edward guy.

Once in Bella's studio, Emmett turned around to face her and crossed his arms over his chest. "What's up with that Edward guy," he demanded right away. Emmett never was one to dance around what he wanted to find out.

"What do you mean?" Bella asked innocently, not wanting to give away what exactly Edward was to her at this particular moment in time. She didn't need her brother to be lecturing her about how to deal with a relationship or anything of the sort, in fact, she would prefer if she didn't have to deal with him at all.

"Oh, don't give me that, Bella. I grew up with you, I know when you're into a guy. And you've got that look all over your face. And don't deny that you weren't starring at his ass when he was walking towards the sink," Emmett said, looking straight at his sister, knowing that she was much more likely to spill when he was starring right at her.

"What if I didn't want to tell you?" Bella asked.

"Tough."  
>"What if I don't want to tell you because I think you'll laugh slash be disappointed in me for the situation I got myself into …," Bella trailed off.<p>

"Did you get you pregnant?" Emmett asked, suddenly a bit angry while a bit surprised at the same time.

All Bella could do was snort at his question. "No."

"Well, then, I won't laugh or be disappointed in you," Emmett said, keeping his arms crossed as he tapped his foot as Bella deliberated on how to word things, "I'm waiting," he sing-songed.

"Fine. I … drunkenly married him in Vegas. He claims to be crazy about me and showed up here a couple of days ago and now won't leave until it's annulled but …," Bella sighed a bit, "I don't know if I want to do that anymore. Because I am seriously actually falling for him now. You know, he say's he has known me for a long time, but I just can't remember where he might have met me before," Bella said, sitting down on one of the few stools she kept in her studio. It was, of course, paint splattered like everything else in the area.

"Are you serious?" Emmett asked, having a hard time believing that his level-headed, artistic sister would have done something so crazy.

Bella nodded. "Yeah, I am, unfortunately," she professed as Emmett tapped his bottom lip.

"And you say you think you really like him?" he asked.

"Yeah."  
>"Has he treated you well since he's shown up here?" Emmett questioned.<p>

"He hasn't done anything bad to me, if that's what you mean. I would be lying to say I wasn't a bit irritated when he first showed up. But that was before I started to want him around more," Bella said twiddling her thumbs a bit.

"Well, then, as long as he isn't an asshole to you, I am okay with this. But the second something goes south, you call me and let me know and I'll come and beat up his sorry ass for you, lil' sis. If that's alright with you?" Emmett said, smiling at his sister.

"That is certainly alright with me," Bella said with a big smile on her face.

"Good, because I wouldn't have this whole situation any other way," Emmett said to her with a smile on his face.

"I'm glad. Now, I should actually show you some of my new artwork that I have done," Bella said to Emmett with a bit of a smile.

"Right. Just so Edward doesn't find out that we were making fun of him while we were hiding away in your little art studio," Emmett said with a bit of a nod as Bella got up off of her stool and walked over to where all her canvases that she had used were sitting.

"Exactly, and not that I was admitting that I was actually starting to like him. Even though I know he has already figured that part out," she said as she shook her head at herself, pulling out one of her favorite new paintings that she had done, before she had even met Edward. It was what she envisioned love being like, at least to some degree.

There were two people holding hands as they starred into one another eyes, their shapes were blurry, but there were red hearts on their chests, bright and almost blinding. Around them, it had been painting white and yellow, to show some light around them, where then black and swirling blues and purprles were every where around where the couple was standing.

Her idea behind the piece was that no matter who the man and woman were, or even if it was two women and two men, their love, which was the bright red hearts, would exude so much light that it would push back the surrounding darkness.

After Bella had shown Emmett a few more after her favorite, Emmett offering up comments on every single one of them and proposing names for each and every one of them, even though Bella had already picked out names for most of them, which she was glad to have already taken care of as she could tell that Emmett was just spewing out random titles, and she didn't need to end up naming her paintings things that were absolutely and completely ridiculous.

Walking out of the studio, they spotted Edward sitting on the couch, typing away at his computer while wearing some thin reading glasses on the tip of his nose, the whole image making Bella smile a little bit before Emmett elbowed her side before wiggling his eyebrows at her before he decided to speak.

"Well! Since it seems Edward is staying here with some permanence, I think I will be off to find myself another place to spend the night. I will call you sometime in the morning about helping me with doing some house hunting and stuff. I know I can do it myself, but, let's be honest, you know what I want better than I do," Emmett said with a shrug, seeing Edward putting down the computer and closing it carefully before standing up.

"It was a pleasure to meet you," Edward said as he moved over to where the siblings were standing as they faced one another.

"Same goes for me," Emmett said as he nodded a little bit.

"Wonderful. Now, Emmett, remember I can feed you again tomorrow, but only for one meal, because it costs too much to make sure you are always full, so you can take care of that on your own since I don't want to have to deal with it," Bella informed him.

"Fine, but I better be on my way to find a place for the night. I know there are some hotels a little way's away from here," Emmett said.

"Good. Now, don't die on your way over there, I would miss you quite a bit if you were dead," Bella informed Emmett.

"Alright, I will keep that in mind," Emmett said to Bella before pulling her into a bit of a bear hug before letting go and waving at Edward, "See you guy's later."  
>"See you, Em. Have a good night," Bella said as she watched Emmett walk out of her home and to who knows where.<p>

"Your brother seems nice," Edward said with a slight nod as he streatched a bit before yawning slightly.

"He is. He wasn't as entertaining today as he usually is, but, I suppose that is alright," she said with a shrug before she felt Edward's arms wrapping around her waist as his head found residence in the crook of her neck before starting to sway them back and forth.

"That's nice. I think you and I should curl up together and watch something," he said before pressing a gentle kiss to her neck, causing her to freeze up for a second before relaxing, though she was sure Edward noticed her reaction, though it didn't seem to bother him much.

"I suppose that sounds like a good plan," Bella said, smiling a bit.

"Wonderful. You get blankets, I'll get popcorn and a movie," he said, kissing her neck again, though this time she didn't freeze.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright! I hope that was worth the wait! Reviews are loved if you leave one and might prompt a sooner update that not ... Especially since I will ACTUALLY be around now. :) Anyway! Have a wonderful week. <strong>


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Yay! It's another chapter! I hope you enjoy this one, and leave a reply, too. :) **

* * *

><p>Bella was calling herself crazy as she got the things that Edward requested together, pulling together some blankets that she kept random places around the house and moving into the living room, seeing Edward in the kitchen making sure that the popcorn was being done just right as he periodically started to mentally think about what movie they would watch. Bella had no idea what he would pick, but this would certainly be an interesting situation.<p>

Even more interesting was the fact that she was happily planning on letting him curl up with her on the couch and underneath the warm blankets. She watched him carry over the bowl of popcorn and she grinned at him as she relaxed on the couch, already under the blankets, as she knew that Edward wanted to join her underneath them once the movie had been started. She could just tell by the glint in his eye at this moment.

And Bella honestly had no problem with it.

"So, what is the movie we are going to watch today?" Bella asked Edward as she relaxed on the couch underneath the blankets, smiling at him as she did so.

"I am trying to decide if I want to go with something I know you will like to watch right now, or something that might be either an awesome choice or a terrible choice," Edward said as he seemed to brose the titles of her impressive movie collection. Bella enjoyed all the movies she owned, so she would be fine with whatever Edward chose, she just wondered what it was going to be.

Finally, having made a decision, Edward put in the movie he had chosen and grabbed the remote to the system and the popcorn bowl, setting it on the table next to the couch before weaseling his way in behind Bella, placing the bowl on her lap in front of him as he let his arms circle her waist a bit, making Bella roll her eyes.

"I hope you like my choice," Edward said into her ear, his hot breath tickling the side of her neck as she smiled a little bit.

"Well, I do, too. Otherwise I might be kicking you back to the couch for sleeping," Bella informed Edward, pretending to be serious.

"If I had known my decision would be this important, I might have taken more time to make it," he said, chuckling just a little bit as the movie's main menu came into focus, Bella smiling at the appearance of the title. Captain America.

"Good choice, Edward. I like it. Perfect amount of action and warm fuzzy moments as well as heartbreaking romance," she said to him, relaxing against his chest a bit more than she had been, willing herself to give into the presence of his body behind hers for now. There was nothing wrong with using him as a form of a pillow while they watched this particular movie, was there?

"I'm glad to hear that. Do I get anything special for making the right choice?" he asked her, almost teasing her, which just make Bella smile more for some reason.

"Hmm … Nope. Just the assurance that you can sleep in a bed for another night," Bella said, "Though you might be able to get something extra if you turn off the lights for us, because I think they should be turned off to watch this particular movie," Bella prompted, sitting up a bit before Edward rolled his eyes and moved out of the position he was in to get up and turn off the lights in the room, making Bella smile before he came back and found his place behind her once again.

"What do I get for doing that? The air was much colder than it is underneath our blanket, I'll have you know," he informed Bella with a very serious air, which just made her roll her eyes and smile slightly before she twisted her body a bit, setting the popcorn on the ground for a moment.

"You get a little bit of this," she informed him pressing her lips gently against his lips, a hand resting gently on his shoulder. "There. I feel like that's re-imbursement enough for your hard work turning off the lights," she said as she started to move back to her original position, though Edwards arms kept her in place, holding her in a position that he could kiss her from for the time being.

"You know, it was a lot colder without being under the blankets. And there were a lot of switches, I think I deserve another kiss," Edward prompted, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Edward, what if I want to watch this movie!" Bella protested, pretending to care much more than she actually did about the television screen. Edward just chuckled at her.

"Well, you'll just have to bribe me to let you watch the movie, then," he said simply, shrugging playfully.

"Hmm … How about this," Bella said, pressing her lips against Edwards again, letting them linger again this time, her body turning more fully now to rest on top of Edward's, the sounds of the movie playing in the background completely forgotten as Bella got lost in the feeling of Edward's lips. The man's hands spread across her waist, warming her body from their position there as their lips met again and again and suddenly she felt Edward's tongue teasing her bottom lip.

By some miracle, she opened her mouth to it and wrapped her arms around Edward's neck, kissing him with enthusiasm now as he flipped their bodies, now resting on top of her on this couch as they kissed, their tongues tangling in a tantalizing tango. Eventually, Bella pulled back, resting her head on the couch as she looked up at Edward, breathless.

"I think that was far more than sufficient, don't you?" she said to him, knowing that they needed to stop now or she might not have the strength to stop them later, and she certainly didn't want to give in just yet, Edward was getting to her far too quickly.

"Mmm, I think you are far too good at that for your own good," Edward said, resting his forehead against Bella's as he breathed a little heavily before pulling back and kissing her forehead gently, pushing the blankets away before flipping their positions, pulling the blankets over them once again, and wrapping his arms tightly around Bella's waist.

Gently, Edward pressed his lips to Bella's neck from this new angle. "I think it will be easier to resist you from this position," Edward said, even though the man didn't sound completely convinced to Bella.

"Mmhmm," Bella said, rolling her eyes as they found the screen, trying to remember where they were exactly in the storyline of the movie. It seemed that they had been rather distracted for a lot longer than she had realized. Not that she really minded in all honesty. The way that they had been distracted was particularly preferable. If she was being truthful, she hadn't wanted it to really end. She just … she just couldn't quite accept the fact that she was seriously crazy about the man that was currently holding her so securely against his chest.

The man that she had married in Vegas.

The man that made her dizzy just by brushing his lips against hers.

The man that cooked and cleaned willingly.

The man that had a mysterious profession.

The man that seemed to want her despite any of the flaws that she knew she possessed, and she certainly loved him for it. But love was a rather strong word for the time that they had spent together, it was almost too strong for her to be comfortable using, but there was no way that there could be anything else that fit there.

Someone needed to invent a word that went well between love and like, because that was where she was with Edward at this moment. It wasn't quite lust. It wasn't quite infatuation, it wasn't any of those other sort of romantic feelings that you can have towards another. But they were strong, whatever they could be classified as. And she was just glad that Edward was patient with her, as she was trying to figure out where she stood in all of this mess, how she was going to deal with Edward in her life.

Her mind was a million miles away as she felt the gentle circles being drawn on the skin of her forearm, Edward's elegant fingers dancing over the bare skin that he found there, which made Bella smile slightly. The contact was pleasant, and she didn't want it to end, that was certainly true.

Of course, it was making it harder for her thoughts to wander, as they were all starting to zone in on the sensation of Edward's fingertips gently caressing her skin, and exactly how relaxing it was feeling, making her eyelids suddenly start to become heavy, even though the movie was right in the middle of one of its brilliant battle scenes.

"Edward, if you keep that up I just might end up falling asleep on top of you," she said to him, yawning a bit as she snuggled into his warm body underneath the comfortable blankets, her eyes starting to head towards the closed position.

"What if that was my ploy? To get you to fall asleep on top of me?" he asked her with a smile on his face as he continued to draw the circles on her forearm.

"Then you should change your ploy to keeping me awake. Because I actually do like this movie and wanted to finish it, as well as I would like to be able to change into my pajamas before actually sleeping, because we are not in the stage of our relationship that it would be acceptable for you to take care of that for me if I were to fall asleep on top of you during the movie," Bella informed Edward simply as she yawned a little bit.

"Is that so?"

"It is," Bella said, nodding a bit against his chest before turning her head and resting her chin there as she looked up at him, "So you should either stop doing that, or let me stand up so I can go and change into pajamas, so, if I do fall asleep on top of you, well, you can just bring us over to the bed and I will wake up plenty confused in the morning and you will have to remind me what happened while I was sleeping," Bella informed him.

All Edward could do at Bella's statement was chuckle lightly at her before pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead. "Alright, I will let you put on your pajamas. I will pause the movie, and put away the popcorn, so we don't have to worry about it anymore. So if and when you fall asleep, I can just carry you straight to bed and change to pajamas myself," Edward said.

"Nuh, uh, you should change into yours, too. After I put mine on and stuff, of course," Bella said, going to grab her pajamas for the night, the ones that she thought of as her most comfortable, though not necessarily the most attractive. She figured if Edward thought she was attractive in that particular outfit, well, he would love her in whatever sort of clothing she chose to wear. Which was both comforting and concerning.

"Whatever you say, Bella," Edward said, bringing the half-empty popcorn bowl into the kitchen before grabbing his own pajamas and going to change as Bella slipped into the bathroom. Edward was sure she was doing her nightly rituals right now with the anticipation that she would either not want to do them later, or she would just be falling asleep on top of him sometime turning the movie.

Edward was quite satisfied with himself as of late.

Everything with Bella was going rather well, and he was thrilled that she didn't seem to want to push him away, and that she wanted him to be closer to her, slowly, ever so slowly. He certainly had enjoyed their little make out session earlier, the one where he certainly hadn't wanted to end it, but Bella had insisted. And whatever Bella said, he would do. At least that was how he intended to go about things for as long as was necessary.

"You ready, Bella?" he called to her from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Just a minute!" he heard from the other side.

Shaking his head, he went back to the couch to get situated before Bella came out of the bathroom with a bright smile on her face before she came and relaxed against Edward, liking the feeling of his arms around her almost as much as he enjoyed having her in his arms.

"Now I'm ready to run the risk of falling asleep on top of you," Bella informed him simply as she smiled at him before Edward started up the movie again, the battle scene popping back into action as Bella snuggled into Edward, yawning slightly.

It seemed that only a couple of moments had passed when the movie was ending and Edward was realizing that Bella's eyes had finally fallen closed, the heaviness of sleep overtaking her. For a moment, he just sat there, his arms around Bella as he continued to trace the random patterns on her skin before he turned everything off using the remote that was close by, being careful not to disturb Bella.

Placing a soft kiss on the top of her head, he gently carried her to her bed, laying her down gently before sliding in next to her, kissing the tip of her nose as he lay down. "Good night, my love," he whispered before pulling her sleeping form into his arms shamelessly and falling asleep with the warmth of the woman he had been in love with for six years against his body.

* * *

><p><strong>Next chapter should be out in a week or less! Leave a review, please, because it let's me know people love me. :) <strong>


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**So ... I got impatient and wanted to post this very early. And that's what I'm doing. :) So I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>When Bella woke up the next morning, she wasn't entirely sure what had moved her from the couch to her bed until she felt Edward's arms wrapped around her waist, causing a small smile to flit across her lips, making her heart warm slightly as she relaxed against his chest, a small smile on her lips as she rested there. After a few moments, though, she wriggled free, stretching and getting out of the bed.<p>

When she stood, she spent a second just looking at Edward. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. She wondered how she had gotten so lucky as to drunkenly marry this man, unlike many of the other men she could have married in her drunken stupor.

Smiling at the sight of the sleeping man, she shook her head and headed to her little kitchen area, determined to make him breakfast this time. Wake him up with the smells of delicious food. She wanted him to walk up behind her this morning, smelling all delicious as he seemed to somehow always do, and kiss her on the neck as he whispered something sweet in her ear. It was something she could imagine him doing. Frequently.

Looking over at the sleeping Edward, Bella worked quietly to make some of her famous Belgium Waffles, using a recipe that she had created herself several years ago since she had always been the one to cook the breakfasts the morning after a sleep over. Periodically, she would look over at Edward and smile, she liked the way he looked in her bed.

Since she had left, he had rolled over onto his back, the blankets, having moved down to his hips as his shirt had rode up a little bit, giving her the slightest peak of his very well defined six pack, which certainly made her smile. She liked the look of this delicious man lying there, completely asleep and comfortable. At home. It was crazy of her, but she was seriously falling for this man.

Sighing at herself, she quickly ran her fingers through her hair. She needed to call up Rose and Alice. She had to dish out all the details about Edward and exactly how he was affecting her now. It was insane, and she had to tell someone else. Her brother had already given her permission to go forward with Edward, so her friends should be fairly accepting, right? There was no reason for them not to be.

Suddenly, she felt strong arms wrapping around her midsection and a chin resting on her shoulder as hot breath blew against her ear. "What are you making?" a rough voice asked, thick with morning grogginess.

"My famous Belgium Waffles. And you are impeding me from my task. So you should get off of me and shower or something," she informed Edward, elbowing him a little bit as a means of trying to get him off of her for the time being, even though she knew it wouldn't work unless he felt like allowing her to get her way.

"Mmm, they sound delicious," Edward said, not letting go and instead nuzzling Bella's neck gently, making her roll her eyes.

"Well, if you would like to taste them, you should probably get off of me so I can finish making them," Bella urged as she grabbed Edwards hands and tried to move them off her waist so she could move about. She succeeded for about a second before they were once again wrapped around her smaller frame. All Bella could do was smile and roll her eyes, finding Edward's actions at once endearing and annoying.

"I think I'd rather stay here," he informed her.

"Fine. Then I won't feed you and you get to go back to sleeping on the couch," Bella informed him firmly, almost like she was setting the rules for a small child. It almost felt as if that was the case, that she set rules for a young child that had no discipline. Though this young child was actually a very attractive grown man.

"Oh, fine, be that way," Edward huffed before placing a kiss on her neck, "I'll shower and then I will come back to pester you, and not even threats of the couch will get me to move away!" Edward proclaimed as he walked towards her bathroom, causing Bella to roll her eyes before she turned back to her project at hand, making sure she didn't completely destroy their breakfast because she was daydreaming.

Her father used to tease her about her constantly variable cooking talents. Most of the time she really was quite the wonderful cook, but a lot of other times she just got too distracted by a train of thought, or an idea for a painting, that she would end up burning something and have to start all over again. When she actually completed the things she was cooking, they results were always fantastic and those that ate her meals seemed to really enjoy them, but the process could sometimes get sticky.

With Edward around, it made it all the more likely for her to forget about something she was cooking and end up making it burn while she walked away getting distracted by him, or thoughts about him. Of course, she didn't think that she would be too distracted as she made waffles, they were pretty difficult to screw up, even for someone that was constantly day dreaming about silly things.

As she was finishing the last waffle, Edward was walking out of her bathroom with a towel slung low on his hips, making her blush just a little bit before she turned away and focused on the waffles and putting them on a plate.

Edward walked by her, and she caught the whiff of an incredibly delicious scent. It must have either been Edward's shampoo or body wash, or whatever, but whatever it was that made him smell that was something delicious. She could tell that Edward was smiling, since she could see his face out of the corner of her eye, though she didn't dare look for fear of blushing as red as a tomato, though she supposed she might already be red.

"Calm down, Bella, it's not like you haven't seen me naked before," Edward said, "And I'm wearing a towel now! So it is a completely different situation. I just forgot to grab some clothing to change into," he said, shaking his head at Bella, though it was clear that he found her reaction to his towel-only state rather adorable. Frankly, he found everything about Bella adorable. And had for years.

Bella just shook her head, trying to clear it and process what Edward had just said to her at the same time, but it wasn't working so well for her. "Oh, shut up. If you knew what was good for you, you wouldn't tease the person that is allowing you to have a roof over your head and food to eat, and not calling the cops or anything on you," Bella asserted, trying to save face after she had obviously been thrown by Edwards almost-naked state.

"Uh, huh. Whatever you say, dearest," Edward teased before going back into the bathroom to finish changing into his clothing for the day as well as doing whatever boys did in the bathroom. Bella was putting everything on plates when Edward came out of the bathroom, looking incredibly delicious and she couldn't help but eye him for a second before tearing her gaze away and looking at the plates of food.

"Tada! Breakfast is served. And it wouldn't have been if you had continued to try and bother me," she informed Edward.

"Maybe, but now I have to see if it is as good as you claim it is," Edward said as he sat down at the table, Bella doing the same as she just started eating right away, watching as Edward seemed to be considering every bite like he was a food critic, his face incredibly serious, though Bella knew he was just messing with her.

"Well? What is your assessment?" she asked Edward after a little while of silence had fallen between the two of them.

"I would have to say it is the most delicious presentation of Belgium Waffles that I have ever had the fortune of tasting. Good job, Bella, you have officially impressed me with your breakfast talents," he said, smiling at her a little bit, making Bella shake her head a little at him.

"Glad I could impress you, now, you get to clean up the dishes while I go and shower and stuff. And so you know, today I have a lot of painting that I want to accomplish, so you are not allowed to distract me," she informed Edward seriously.

"Perfect, because I have a lot of writing that I want to do, and I don't want you to distract me, though I think the fact that we are in the same living space is enough to cause me to be a bit distracted," Edward said, smiling a little bit.

Bella just shook her head at Edward before placing her dish in the sink before going to get her clothing for the day, not wanting to have to venture out of the bathroom in a towel like Edward had. As much as she knew Edward would enjoy it, she didn't want him making advances towards her when the only thing covering her was a towel. Because she honestly didn't know what Edward would do in that situation.

Once she had readied herself, Bella slipped into her studio and started to work, she wanted to finish the lust pieces today, adding flourishes and more fully including the depth to the painting that she wanted. And once finished, she was planning on hiding that one from Edward as much as she could possibly manage to do so. He didn't need to see the lusty painting she had done because of him. Of course, she could always lie about the purpose of the painting … but for some reason she didn't feel like she wanted to lie to Edward.

Except maybe about the fact that she was seriously starting to be interested in the man.

As she was setting the lust painting aside to dry, she wiped her forehead, getting some cool red paint on her forehead, and that's when she got the next idea for her painting series, and it was confusion. She was conflicted about this whole situation, unsure of what to do. She could use this picture to show the conflict and confusion of her relationship with Edward. Maybe do a clashing of the lust painting and the annoyance painting, with confusion melting them together in the middle. Smiling to herself, she picked up her brushes and began to attack this new canvas, enjoying herself as she worked on this one. She knew this particular painting was going to take her longer than the other two, probably about a week or so to do properly, at least to make sure it was the way she imagined it to be in her head.

After awhile, she heard a knock on the wall and turned to see Edward standing there, leaning against the doorframe with a smile on his lips. He was smiling at the sight of Bella, covered in splatters of paint and the smudges of paint across differet planes of her face, which he found adorable. She looked at him for a second, as if being pulled back to the real world from her painting that she was working on.

"Yes?" she final said, starting to look a little bit annoyed at him.

"It's four o'clock in the afternoon. You've been working for six hours. I'd say it's time for me to kidnap you away to get something to eat. Early dinner. We can have a late night snack later, and after we come back from our early dinner, you can resume painting, what do you think?" Edward asked, smiling at Bella, he wanted to be with her in public for awhile.

"Oh," Bella said, registering that she had, in fact, been working for several hours. "Well, I think I can actually be done for today. I need to let this dry before I add anything …," she trailed off, "Are we going out to eat as a date? Or as you not wanting to cook for me?" Bella asked Edward as she tilted her head to the side for a moment.

"Date. But it'll be causal. So you can go as is, though I would was the paint off of your forehead," he said, gesturing to the red paint on her forehead, knowing that she would see the other splatters on her face when she looked in the mirror to get them off.

Bella's face turned just a little red at Edward's comment. "Oh. Okay, well … did you pick the place already? Because if you have, you should tell me what you chose …," she trailed off, looking at him almost pointedly.

"Nope. Not telling you. You'll just have to see," Edward said, winking at Bella as he walked out of the room.

Bella followed Edward out of the room as she shook her head just a little bit at the man. "Really? You are going to keep that a secret from me? Why can't you just tell me where we're going and let have a heads up, maybe that way I know what I'm going to eat before we get there or something …," Bella trailed off, seeing Edward's shoulders shaking in a silent chuckle.

"Just do what you must to get ready and then we'll go, I know you've got to be getting hungry," Edward said, and as if it was right on cue, her stomach growled, which made Bella scowl and go towards the bathroom, quickly washing the multiple paint splatters off of her skin.

It was cute when it was on her clothing, it was messy when it was on her skin. Or at least that was what Alice had told her once upon a time. She had also explained that artists were very sexy as far as professions went. Especially if they were naturally beautiful. Bella didn't have the natural beauty, or at least so she thought, but she did have a very artful profession.

"Okay, I am ready," Bella informed Edward as she walked out of the bathroom.

"Fantastic," he said, grinning at her as he led her out of the house.

* * *

><p><strong>Next Chapter will be up in a week at the most, but it'll probably be sooner than that. But who knows! Anyway, do leave a review because all of them make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :) <strong>


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Enjoy the chapter! And do leave a review if you like it. :) **

* * *

><p>"Seriously? You are still not going to tell me where we are going?" Bella said to Edward as they had been driving for the past twenty or so minutes, "Like you pointed out, I haven't eaten for many hours and I am getting hungry, you know," she said to Edward, trying to get him to give in and at least give her a time estimate as to how soon they would be arriving at their destination.<p>

"Nope," Edward said, smiling a little bit at her as he looked at Bella fondly, "I can tell you though, that we are almost there and you won't have to wait long," he assured her.

All Bella could do was grumble and cross her arms. "Come on, this is not helping you in terms of me not kicking you out permanently," Bella informed Edward simply as she gave him a bit of a pointed looked.

"Well, I seem to recall that you are starting to get attached to me, and hmm … who was it that encouraged kissing? Hmm?" Edward teased Bella, seeing a lovely blush appear on her cheeks as she turned her head to look out the window, ignoring him and anything that he might be attempting to insinuate about her. She didn't like to admit to herself that she was falling for him, faster and faster each and every day.

She just sighed in response to him and looked out the window, refusing to look at him as they traveled through the streets, making her wonder what was going to come next, and what they were going to be doing soon. After another five minutes had gone by, and her stomach was rumbling obnoxiously loud, making Edward chuckle every time it did so, they pulled into a parking lot of a diner of some sort.

"We have arrived," Edward said, parking the car and getting out, taking Bella's hand in his as he helped her out of her side of the car, which certainly annoyed her to no end.

"Whatever," Bella said, rolling her eyes at Edward, "So, this is what we drove twenty five minutes to find?" she said, looking at the little diner a little skeptically.

"Yes, it is, do you have a problem with that?" he asked her.

"As long as the food is good, and it comes out fast, well, I think I'll survive," Bella said before heading towards the diner, Edward moving to her side, opening doors for her as they got into the building, which made Bella roll her eyes.

Entering the restaurant, there was a blond girl standing at the hostess spot, her hipped popped out as she chewed on her gum, seeming rather disinterested in the things going on around her at the moment. Bella had to admit that she much preferred this attitude of a hostess to the one of the woman she had encounted on her first date with Edward.

"How many?" the girl asked in a bored voice.

"Just two," Edward answered, seeing the girl nod before leading them to a table, telling them that their server would be with them in a few minutes.

"I know it doesn't look like much," Edward said, "But it is the best diner in the area, I promise. Possibly the entire country. My parents would come here for their anniversary every year, it was the place that they met and fell in love, believe it or not," Edward informed Bella, making her raise an eyebrow as she was intrigued.

"You realize, that was the first time you have ever mentioned your parents to me, right?" Bella asked him, wondering if he would share more with her today. She really did want to get to know this man, especially if she was supposed to be allowing their marriage to continue.

"I only haven't because the opportunity hadn't really presented itself. I would prefer to focus on you getting to like me more than you seem to at this moment," he informed her with a soft smile on his lips.

"Well, I think I would be more inclined to agree to not annul this lovely little marriage of ours if I were to understand you, know a little bit about your family, and what it is you do for a living, exactly. I don't want to be married to a dead beat," Bella said simply as she waited for Edward to speak, hearing him chuckle at her a little bit.

"Darling, I'm not telling you what I do for a long time, at least not until you agree to stay married to me. But I assure you, I am not a dead beat in any capacity," Edward said to her.

Bella raised an eyebrow at him. "Until you tell me, I'm just going to assume that you're a classy prostitute. After all, we did meet in Vegas, get married, then have druken marital sex," she said shrugging at him.

Edward couldn't help it, he laughed at her nonchalant way of talking about the night that they had gotten married. Edward remember the night very different. He hadn't been nearly as drunk as she was, he was just drunk enough to think his plan was a good idea, but, of course, he didn't need to tell Bella that at this point, she could stay ignorant of just how much he wanted to be with her.

"Oh, whatever. If you aren't going to tell me about your job, I would love to hear a little about your family. You already know I have a brother that works in the drug business and a father who's a cop, and, just so you now, my parents are divorced and my mother lives in Florida doing god knows what, we're not really in contact with each other anymore," she informed Edward.

"Well, now that I have the synopsis of the Swan family, I guess I better give you one of the Cullen Family," he said, shaking his head at Bella, he found her incredibly amusing, and he was glad that she seemed to be willing to give him a chance still.

"Get started," Bella said, urging him on.

As Edward was about to start talking, their server arrived with the waters and was asking them if they knew what they were going to be having. Bella quickly answered with the California Burger, and Edward ordered similarly while adding two full chocolate malts to their meals, once the waitress left their table to place the order, Edward turned to smile at her.

"I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of ordering you one of the delicious malts they sell here. My parents always said that there must have been something in the malts that made them fall for each other so quickly," Edward informed Bella.

"Are you trying to get me to fall in love with you through the use of magic malts?" Bella asked, teasing him.

Edward just smiled and laughed a little, "Maybe I am, is it a crime to try through whatever means necessary?" he asked her.

"Depends on who you're asking. Now, share with me a bit about your family, just tell me a little bit about everyone," Bella demanded, sitting back in the booth they were in and sipping at the water she had been given. Honestly, she was kind of excited to find out what she could about Edward's family and past.

"Well, it was always just me and my parents. They tried to have other children, but they were never successful, so I was always spoiled rotten, but pushed to do everything that I was supposed to do. My parents had me involved in a sport every season, and pushed me to excel in academics. I was that kid that was incredibly well rounded. My mother, Esme, was a stay at home mother, taking care of the house things, gardening, and she often times worked with charities. My father, Carlisle, was a doctor, and he is a pretty outstanding one, at that. So my family never really had to want for anything, we were particularly lucky for that," Edward said before shrugging.

"And that's a synapsis on the Cullen family," Edward said, finishing just as their food arrived at their table, being set out in front of them, the malts arriving at the same time. Smiling a little bit, Bella started to each, her growling stomach now her main focus.

Having eaten for a little while, Bella looked up at Edward. "Thanks for sharing a little bit about your family. Makes me feel like you're less of a random weirdo that could possibly be a rapist in disguise, versus a real human being that actually has his own family," she said to him with a small smile.

"I'm glad you feel less like I'm a crazy rapist. But if I was … it would be a little weird that I was taking my time so much, huh?" he said.

"Maybe you just want me to think you're a good person before you commit the dastardly deed," Bella said, eating a fry as she smiled at Edward.

"Oh, really? And what would I do after this dastardly deed?" Edward asked Bella.

"Probably run away back to Vegas where you could start the process all over again," Bella answered him with a shrug as she took a sip of her malt. Edward just chuckled and shook his head at her.

"I'm glad you think so highly of me," Edward said dryly as they began to focus more on eating than on talking, as both of them had been quite hungry when they had arrived at the small diner. It didn't take long for their meals to be completely demolished, and the check was being placed on the table.

Bella protested Edward paying for the meal, but he would hear none of it as he quickly paid for the meal before he took her hand and led her out of the diner and … not back to the car.

"Edward … where are we going?" Bella asked him, looking at him like he was going crazy.

"We are going to play mini golf. There is a course behind this place about half a mile down," he informed her simply as he grabbed her hand, keeping it in his so she couldn't easily turn around and head back to the car.

"Mini golf? You want me to play mini golf?" Bella asked in disbelief.

"Yes," Edward said simply.

"I lack most basic coordination and you think it is a good idea to take me mini-golfing?" she said to him, still incredulous.

"Don't worry, I can help you with your swing if you want," Edward assured her, pleased that Bella hadn't yet pulled her hand away from his.

Bella snorted a little bit as they walked. "Oh, so this totally isn't a ploy for you to get closer to me with a plausible excuse, huh?" she said to him, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Maybe so, but maybe I just want to play a fun game of mini golf with my wife, whom I am trying to convince not to annul the marriage," he said to her simply as they walked, the golf course suddenly appearing before them as Edward smiled at Bella.

Bella groaned a little at the sight of the course. "Please don't make me do this …," she said to Edward.

"Nope, you are going to play a game of mini-golf with me and you are going to enjoy yourself more than you expect to," Edward informed her as he pulled her with him into the little set up, paying for them and leading her over to the first hole of the course. Bella had crossed her arms over her chest as they reached the first hole, not wanting to participate.

"Come on, Bella, this will be fun. Do you want to go first? Or should I?" Edward asked her, smiling just a little bit at her before he saw her purposely ignoring him, quickly taking his turn he made it under par before coming back to Bella's side. "Your turn, or am I going to have to help you with your swing?" he asked her, smiling a little smugly at her.

Huffing a bit, Bella narrowed her eyes at Edward. "You get to do nothing of the sort," she informed him before she stepped up and started her turn … and she managed to get three over par, which made her scowl at the little golf ball in her hand.

"This is rigged," Bella declared.

"No, Bella, you just need help. How about I help you at the next hole?" Edward asked her, smiling as he asked her, which just made Bella roll her eyes at him and march onward, ignoring him as he took h is turn, finishing smoothly before he returned to Bella's side.

"Do you want to accept my help this time?" Edward asked, his grin splitting from ear to ear.

Bella stuck her tongue out at him, which just made Edward laugh a little bit before he wanted her move forward and, once again, do awfully. He couldn't help but snicker a little bit at her lack of abilities, though he didn't want to make her completely angry with him.

At the next whole, Bella just threw her arms up in defeat, looking over at Edward. "Okay! Fine! You can help me," she informed him, hearing Edward chuckling at her exasperation before he moved over to stand behind her, placing his hands over hers and whispering in her ear.

"It's all about how you line it up," he said, placing her hands better on the club, aiming, and guiding her through the actions, and she quite easily seemed to get a hole in one, which made her smile a brilliant smile.

"I suppose having you help me isn't a completely awful thing …," Bella trailed off.

"I'm glad you feel that way. Does this mean I am roped into helping you at every other hole from here on out?" Edward questioned her.

"Yes, yes it does. You were extremely insistant just a couple of minutes ago, did you change your mind or something?" she asked him, tilting her head to the side as she smiled at him a bit.

"I suppose you are right, I guess I must help you through the rest of this ordeal," Edward said, pretending to be annoyed by having to help her.

The rest of the game was far more enjoyable, Edward finding that Bella was being more and more receptive of him and his closeness to her all the time, which certainly made him happy. When they were finally making their way home, Bella seemed to be getting sleepy, and her eyes closed halfway through their drive back, even though it was only twenty minutes or so, she was completely out.

Apparently the combination of painting, eating, and mini golfing all day was enough to make her exhausted. When they reached her house again, Edward placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Wake up, love, you need to get in the house again," he said to her.

"I was having a very nice dream," Bella said, opening her eyes, "You were gone and I was alone with a much hotter man," she dead panned.

Edward rolled his eyes, "You are very funny," he said simply before urging her out of her car and back into her little loft apartment.

"Well, I'm going to get an early bed time, so I can contact my friends for shopping and gossiping. Okay? Okay," Bella said, quickly changing and falling into bed, Edward just smiling as he watched her. Still smiling to himself, Edward opened his computer and started writing.

* * *

><p><strong>I have the next chapter already written, and I can tell you, it's a good one ... so if I get a lot of reviews today I may post it tomorrow. Otherwise I do believe I will be putting it up on Friday. :) Just sayin'. Have a great daynight depending on when you read this!**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Thank you so much to those who left reviews yesterday! They truly warmed my heart. So here is the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it enough to leave a review.**

* * *

><p>When Bella woke up in the morning, her face was buried in Edward chest as his breathing was smooth and even in her ear. She couldn't help but smile a little bit at him and the way it felt to have him sleeping this close to her. Maybe, if she still wanted this annulled, she would at least give him a chance to start something with her. That wouldn't be outrageous, though she didn't really think it was start to stay married at this point.<p>

After all, they really hardly knew each other. Smiling at Edward for a second longer, she extracted herself from his warm arms and headed towards the shower, getting herself cleaned and changed before she walked out of the bathroom, seeing Edward still passed out on the bed. Grabbing herself a bowl of cereal, she picked up her phone, dialing Alice's number first, since she knew that that girl would be up for sure at this hour.

"Alice speaking!" the girl practically sung when she picked the phone up.

"Hello Alice," Bella said dryly as she worked on eating her breakfast, "So, I have some very important things to talk to you and Rose about today, and to make up for not telling you sooner, I am willing to do so while we are shopping today," Bella said.

Immediately, Alice let out a far too loud squeal for Bella's liking, and she couldn't help but wince a little bit at the ear drum splitting nature of it as she shook her head at Alice's excitement at the prospect of getting her to be willingly-ish shopping with her today. "Wonderful! I promise to listen to you when you tell us … whatever it is that is on your mind," Alice said, smiling a little bit before squealing again. "Have you called Rose yet? Or would you like me to do it? Also, what time are we going to go to the mall?" Alice asked, Bella could practically hear the other woman vibrating on the other end of the phone.

"Calm down Alice. We can go at ten, but I'm going to need a ride from you two, so pick me up at ten, and then we can spend as much time as you want at the mall, I am putting no restrictions on time for this," she said to Alice, already regretting to agree to this, she was definitely going to have to make sure she was wearing comfortable shoes for the day.

"Great! I will call Rose and we will get everything nice and organized so we can bring you to the mall!" Alice sung, and Bella almost hoped that this trip was going to be enough for them to forgive her for not telling them about Edward sooner.

Though it would at least provide her with a day away from him, meaning that it would be much easier for her to forget just how powerful of an effect he had over her. It was a problem how much she allowed him to influence her sometimes, and she almost felt bad about it, but she wasn't going to let herself at this point in time.

"Okay, Alice. That sounds good to me. Just don't get here too early, otherwise I won't be ready to go, okay?" she said, smiling a little bit into the phone as she listened to the noises of excitement that Alice was making on the other end of the phone, which just made her shake her head at Alice's antics.

"I promise, I promise. After all, I have to tackle the problem of waking up Rose today, though, I am sure the second I mention the fact that you are willingly going shopping, she'll be ready to go in no time!" Alice sung.

"Wonderful. Just don't piss her off. I don't want a pissed off Rose all day," Bella said.

Alice just laughed on the other end of the phone. "Of course, I'll do my best. See you in a couple of hours!" she sung before hanging up and leaving Bella in peace as she shook her head at her friends.

All of a sudden she felt arms around her waist and lips on her neck, lips that were seeming to move across every inch of her skin as she sat on the stool eating her breakfast, "Edward … what are you doing?" she asked him.

"Enjoying myself," he informed her by speaking softly into her ear before kissing her softly underneath the ear before placing lingering kisses across her skin.

"Mmhmm," Bella said, rolling her eyes, "Are you going to stop so I can get up off of my stool?" she asked.

"Nope," Edward said, "Today, since you are going to be gone, I am indulging before you leave," he informed her as he started to kiss her jawline, urging her to turn around, which just made Bella roll her eyes.

"My, you are rather persistant this morning," Bella teased him.

"Sorry, but I am feeling rather impatient today, for some reason," he informed her softly, his lips slowly making his way across her jaw line as he got her turn around to face him.

"Wonderful. So I get to deal with an impatient Edward," Bella said to him.

"Exactly," he informed her before kissing her lips gently, pulling her body closer to his. Bella honestly wondered what had gotten into this man since they had last spoken last night. Had she done something to encourage this more than usual. She wasn't thinking that she had, but maybe? Certainly, though, his kisses were not all that awful.

His body got much closer to hers as he continued to kiss her, moving the bowl of cereal that she had been having out of the way as he seemed to lift her, their lips still locked, and set her on the counter so he could more easily stand between her legs as he kissed her.

"Edward …," she breathed after a moment, pulling back from him for just a second, "What are you doing?" she asked him.

"Kissing my very sexy wife," he informed her, reclaiming her mouth, and she honestly didn't seem to mind much at all as her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck, keeping his lips close to hers as she enjoyed this side of Edward. Maybe she shouldn't be encouraging this, but she wasn't unhappy about this situation.

His hands slid down her sides nice and slow, his fingers leaving trails of fire on her sides before they reached her hips, and that's when Bella remembered she had put on a dress today, because she was lazy, so there was a good chance that … his hands rested on her hips, and his thumbs gently stroked closer to her inner thights, making her inhale.

"Edward …," she said as a bit of a warning, though he hushed her with his lips.

"Do you still think I am a crazy rapist?" he asked her, remember her comment the night before as he teased her a little bit.

"No, but …," she said, feeling his lips on hers again as his hands moved a little bit lower on her legs, finding the hem of the dress she had put on.

"Do you trust me?" he asked her.

"Mostly, but …," she said, his lips finding her neck and making her let out a breath of enjoyment.

"But, what?" he asked her, a smile in her voice.

"I'm not sure if this is, um, appropriate?" she said, questioning even herself as to why she was stopping where this was head.

Edward just chuckled lightly into her ear. "I am quite sure this is appropriate. We are married after all, I am going to miss you all day, and I have been dying to get at least a little bit closer to you," he said to her, kissing her lips gently, "But if you want me to stop," he said, his hands moving away from their place, bringing the hem of her dress down.

"Damn it. You are too good at manipulating me," Bella mumbled before she pulled Edwards face towards hers, "You realize, this changes absolutely nothing about my decision just yet," she informed him looking into his mischeviously twinkling eyes.

"Mmhmm, well, let's save that verdict for later," he teased her before reclaiming her lips and letting his hands slide up her thighs underneath her dress this time, nice and slow, knowing that she still might change her mind at any point in time. He had felt bold this morning. And it was paying off.

Gently, he used his fingers to push aside the underwear she was wearing, hearing her breath in sharply, he smiled at her gently. "Last chance to tell me to stop," he said softly.

"No … no … I don't want you to," she said to Edward, placing her hands on either side of his face and pulling him closer to her for a kiss as his fingers found her nice little sensitive bundle of nerves and tease it a bit with his fingers, causing her to let out a little sound, and Edward was certain it was the sweetest sound that had ever befallen his ears.

His lips moved to her neck, so she wouldn't be muffled and he was just enjoying himself as he teased her with his fingertips, gently increasing his movements periodically before he get even bolder and slid one finger inside of her, hearing her moan a little bit, and he couldn't help but groan himself.

Bella was holding onto Edward's shoulders already, her mouth open a little in surprise of the sensations moving through her as Edward's lips continued to worship the skin that was available to him and his hands continued to cause pleasure that she hadn't felt in a very long time. Edward added another finger, causing Bella to moan out, and groan a little as he started to move his fingers as he continued to tease her clit.

She had closed her eyes and was breathing more heavily now, as Edward encouraged her along, slowly bringing her closer and closer. "Edward …," she moaned out, encouraging him, wanting more of what he was giving at the morning.

He placed a kiss on her lips then, pulling back as he increased his movements, feeling her hands holding onto his body as her breathing sped up and he could feel her beginning to tense around his fingers as she started to moan just a little bit louder before she finally reached her climax, her lovely voice crying out his name for a second before her body shook slightly, resting against his as she finished.

Gently, he removed his fingers, and put her underwear back in place, the hand that had been working at her clit, wrapping around her waist to support her as he tasted her juices, hoping she wouldn't completely notice, and he was certain that they were the sweetest thing he had ever tasted. Bella was still regaining her breath as he kissed her neck tenderly.

"Oh my god …," Bella breathed, more than slightly shocked at herself for allowing Edward to do what he had just done.

"Mmm … you were wonderful," he said, nuzzling her neck affectionately.

"Thanks?" she said, unsure of what to do. She hadn't regretted that, no. But had she moved to fast? They were already married … and they had been living together for at least a week now … she could be okay with this. She could be fine with what had just happened.

"Was my performance satisfactory?" Edward asked her, speaking softly into her ear before hearing her giggle lightly.

"Quite," she said before she realized something. "Oh, fuck," she mumbled to herself, hiding her face in Edward's neck as she cursed herself. Mostly for the timing of this.

"What is it, love?" Edward asked softly.

"My friends. They are going to know. The second they see me they are either going to think I got friendly with my hand, or, well, once I tell them that you are currently living in my house … I will get unending questions," she said, shaking her head, and not really wanting to face her friends anymore.

"I'm sorry, if I had known your friends could sniff out orgasms, I would have waited until you came home from the mall, but, well, you just looked too sexy sitting there in your dress eating your breakfast," Edward said, smiling at Bella a little bit.

"Okay," she said, accepting Edward's apology readily.

She felt Edward press his lips to her forehead again before he arms lifted her off of the counter and set her on her feet again, his lips finding hers in a sweet kiss. "You are a beautiful, strong, sexy woman, and I am certain you can handle anything your friends throw at you today," he informed her softly, but firmly.

"Oh, really?" she said, "You have never met my friends. And you obviously don't understand my relationship with shopping," she said to him.

"Maybe not. But I'll be here when you get back. So I can massage your feet for you while you watch whatever television show you want, how about that?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's a deal," she said to him, smiling brightly up at him, Edward's arms still around her waist as she looked up at him.

All Bella could think of at this moment, was how much she was starting to love this man, and how he had seemed to so easily march through every single one of the barriers that she had put up to protect herself over the years, and just how much she couldn't care less. She loved Edward, and she loved being around him, so she didn't see why she should have to annul this marriage anymore … but she needed to discuss it with her friends. They would see things much more clearly than she would.

After all, her judgement had been clouded by Edward's excellent use of his fingers. "Will you make me something delicious for dinner tonight, too? If you don't mind cooking while I'm gone?" she asked him, resting her chin on his chest as she looked up at him, feeling oddly content as she stood with him. Usually she would have some sort of comflicting emotions when she was in a position like this with him.

And that was when she got the idea for her next painting, after she finished the one she was on now. She could do one of certainty, and if things were headed in the right direction, she was going to have her final painting be love. And that was going to be a fun one to paint.

"I will," he said, nodding at her, "Anything for you, Bella," he said to her, kissing her forehead before she heard her phone buzz on the table.

"Hang on," she said, moving away from him, much to her displeasure as she checked her phone. Alice and Rose were here. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was ten already, and she had no idea where the time had gone so quickly.

"I have to go but ... I will see you tonight?" she said, Edward nodding.

"Oh!" he said, quickly running over to a pair of pants he had been wearing the other day and pulling out a credit card, "Take this with you. It'll have enough for you to get whatever you want today. My treat for making you deal with your friends today," he said, kissing her forehead gently as he handed it to her, "After all, what's mine is yours," he said.

Bella just rolled her eyes, but didn't fight it. "Fine. But I won't be getting that much. I don't need many cloths," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Let that be up to your friends. Have as much fun as you can, and I will be waiting here with a hot dinner and a good foot rub for you tonight," he said.

She grinned at him and nodded before turning away and heading out to her friends, grabbing her purse as she went. Edward really was something else.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked the chapter! Next up Bella goes out with the girls ... leave a review and I might possibly post earlier than anticipated. Otherwise, it'll be next Tuesday. Have a wonderful day and leave a review if you liked the chapter!<strong>


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**I do hope you enjoy this chapter! A little bit of the girls and Bella hanging out together, talking about Edward, and getting Bella a little further along the line of actually letting Edward in more ... I hope you like it enough to leave a review!**

* * *

><p>Bella hurried down the steps and out of her house, her thoughts still lingering on Edward and the admittedly amazing morning she had just had. Once she had read that the best time for a woman to have an orgasm in the morning. Maybe Edward had read that, too, at one point and that was part of the reason for his boldness this morning. Not that she minded in the least, but she certainly couldn't help but wonder what had gotten into him.<p>

"Look at that! Bella is wearing a dress today!" Alice said as Bella got into the car, rolling her eyes all the while.

"Oh, hush. I'm only wearing it because all I have to do to have an outfit with a dress is put it on, and I am all set to go, no problem," Bella informed her friend.

"Whatever. I just think you wanted to dress up for the day out!" Alice said cheerfully, making Rose roll her eyes at the woman a little bit before they started out, heading directly towards the mall. Her two friends were pretty well off, so shopping wasn't something that they had to worry about, but she couldn't help but wonder how much Edward had on his card. She hadn't even looked to see if it was credit or debit. Regardless, it didn't matter much, she was already out with her friends, and was no longer around Edward. Which was good.

He seemed to muddle up her decision making abilities rather easily.

"So," Rose said, "I heard that there is something that you want to tell us? Which is the reason for agreeing to this shopping trip?" Rose said, raising an eyebrow at Bella through the rear view mirror.

"How about I tell you when we start with coffee at the mall?" Bella suggested, pretending to be innocent of anything that they might be attempting to accuse her of, not that she expected them to be irritated too much at her, just bummed that they weren't in the know about Edward.

And she was certain, the second that they had long enough to look at her and connect the dots, well, she would be called out on having had some, well, fun with Edward in the morning. Or at least she was guessing that was how her friends were going to word it to her, not that she blamed them or anything. They meant well, they just weren't always the best at being obvious about it.

It didn't take much time for them to arrive at the mall and they were soon all seated around the little coffee table that they had managed to procure. Alice and Rose were starring Bella down, waiting for her to start talking while she was just sipping at her coffee, getting up her courage to spill the beans about the entire situation she had somehow managed to get herself in. Not that she hated the situation anymore.

"Well, remember how I got married to that guy in Vegas, and he seemed rather intent on keeping together?" Bella asked, "And I got the hell out of there as fast as I could and I was totally being a bitch to you guys on the way back?" she said to them, seeing the other two women nod before she took a sip of her coffee and then leaned back in her chair.

"That night, he showed up at my house, said he wasn't going to find a hotel, and since we were married, he should stay with me. He then somehow managed to persuade me to give him a chance. I gave him the couch right away, and told him not to get any funny ideas, but he said he was going to try and prove to me that he was a good guy and that I didn't need to get an annulment for this marriage," she said, sighing a little bit as she ran a hand through her hair for a second, looking up at the ceiling.

"Well, he took me on a very fancy date, and it was … spectacular. Then … somehow, he managed to convince me to let him share my bed, just for sleeping, okay, I promise. And … then he cooked for me and he smells all delicious, and he doesn't bother me when I was painting. Yesterday, he took me out to a small little diner and then coached me through playing mini golf. It was nauseatingly cute," she informed her friends as took another sip of her coffee.

"I think … I think he's getting to me. I think I don't' want to get rid of him anymore, and that seriously scares the shit out of me because I hardly know him at all, I don't even know what he does for a living! All I know is that he is constantly writing and he says, sometimes, that I am inspiring him and … Well, that's it," she said to her friends, taking a drink of her coffee as Rose and Alice looked at one another with raised eyebrows.

"You left some stuff out," Alice said seriously.

"Like what?" she said.

"The fact that he probably made you cum this morning. I mean, come on, you look far too chipper for ten in the morning. And I doubt that means you two haven't fooled around," Rose informed her, reading Alice's mind and voicing it.

"Fine! So a couple of nights about we watched a movie together and ended up making out. And fine, he totally gave me an orgasm this morning on the fucking kitchen counter because he said I looked sexy eating my breakfast. And damn it, that's why I am getting concerned. My hormones really like him, but my brain keeps telling me to wait, that there is something important that he isn't telling me just yet and I don't know what it is.

Alice and Rose looked at each other, and grinned. "Bella, this guy is good for you. He seems to really like you, but we are going to have to put him through the best friend test, soon. Does your family know?" Alice asked.

"Emmett met him and said he was a good guy, and he told me that I should give him a chance, I just don't know if I really want to give him a chance or not, because if I do, or if I continue to let him, well, I think I am going to fall in love with him, and what if he just breaks my heart, Alice? Remember Jacob?" Bella said, remembering her only other serious boyfriend.

"Jacob didn't break your heart, Bella. He broke your bones, and put you in the hospital and then took off without looking back. He fucked you over in so many ways, and that wasn't him breaking your heart, that was him using you. Remember how you didn't listen to us when we said he wasn't a good choice for you? Well, listen to us now when we say this new guy, he's good for you," Rose said fiercely.

Bella looked down for a moment before sighing. "I suppose you're right. Jacob never offered to make me a wonderful dinner and then rub my feet for me after spending a day shopping. He would just claim that I was using too much of 'our' money on silly things," she said with a shake of her head.

"Exactly," Rose said to her.

"Well! Now that it's settled that your friends need to test this guy, and we are encouraging him, we have a couple of essentials on the list today. Sexy underwear for Bella, because if he is getting all touchy with you, I know you will eventually want some nice and sexy stuff to put on for him, and then we need to get cute outfits together," Alice said, nodding seriously as she looked at her friends.

"Oh, dear lord," Bella said, putting her head in her hands, "At least let me finish my coffee first?" she said, smiling at the woman a little bit.

"Fine," Alice huffed, having already downed her whole coffee, though Rose and Bella were still working at it.

"Hey, Alice, could you tell me what kind of card this is?" Bella asked, knowing that Alice had all the knowledge when it came to credit cards and such, and since she was curious as to how much money off of Edward's card she could use, well, she could probably tell her what it was.

"Sure," the girl said, holding her hand out.

"It's Edward's card, he told me to use it for my stuff today," she said, looking at Alice and seeing her eyes go wide before looking up at Bella.

"Bella … do you know what Edward does for a living? Because this is the most classy kind of card that money can buy. Or even have. It's like … movie stars have cards like this!" she informed Bella with wide eyes.

"Oh," Bella said, frowning a little bit, drawing her forehead together. Why would Edward have so much money just laying around so that he could pay for her shopping spree today? She almost hated that he was, but at the same time, she was much too curious about where all the money was coming from to question it too much.

"Bella, he's a millionaire, if not billionaire," she informed her, "Whatever it is that he does, you are sure as hell lucky to have landed him," Alice said seriously.

She just shook her head at Alice. "He always say's he's fortunate to have found me, to have married me in Vegas. I don't know why … but he talks to me as if he's been in love with me his whole life, so, I am starting to feel like my marrying him in my drunken state wasn't entirely random but … why on earth would he have so much money just laying around?" she asked, looking at Alice.

"No idea. Maybe you should ask him tonight?" Alice suggested, Rose nodding.

"What if he doesn't answer?" Bella asked.

"Then suck his cock and stop before he's about to get off and demand an answer or else you won't finish," Rose said seriously.

Bella choked on the coffee that she was drinking. "Rose!"

"What? It's a valid way to get what you want out of him, he'd be helpless against you. If he is as crazy about you as he says he is, getting that information out of him is going to be a breeze, and I am certain you wouldn't regret it. Also, I am certain he would be incredibly thankful regardless of the situation," she said simply.

"Are you kidding me? I'm not going to use any method like that to try and get information from him! Remember who you are talking to, geeze," she said, shaking her head, clearly mortified by the whole situation at hand.

"Rose! Be nice. You know Bella is too innocent to handle those things. Though, I am sure she soon won't be, I mean, with her _husband _working at her to let loose already," Alice said simply, teasing Bella a little bit.

"Ugh! You two are not nice," Bella protested.

"What did you expect? You didn't tell us about Edward until now, so, guess what? We are going to pick on you all. Day. Long," Rose said, smiling at Bella.

"Oh, fine. Let's just do this shopping thing so I can be done and go home to my dinner and foot massage," she grumbled, standing up and tossing her cup away before walking away, making sure she had everything she needed as she looked over her shoulder at her friends. "Come on, slow pokes, you know I'm not here for me, it's all for you," she informed them as the other two women just laughed a little bit before standing and joining Bella before Alice immediately pulled them away to a lingerie store.

"Okay, first things first, we need sexy things for Bella, and because she does not have a limit on how much she is allowed to spend today, we don't have to pay attention to prices for Bella. Especially right now. Because we want you to look delectable when you are wearing the outfits and stuff," Alice instructed, starting to look through things.

"Alice, how many outfits should we make sure Bella has today?" Rose asked the girl, completely ignoring the fact that Bella was standing right here.

"Let's go with at least four, you never know when she is going to want to put one on or something," she said to Rose with a shrug.

"Sounds like a plan," Rose said, nodding a little bit.

"Are you going to ever ask me what I think?" Bella asked dryly as she followed them around the store, the two girls already knowing her size, so the decision making process was just about making sure the sexiest things they could manage to get were bought, because they didn't have to worry about price tags, and they were all about making Bella buy things for Edward today, well, they were going to indulge themselves and encourage Bella to start enjoying the shopping experience, even though that was probably never going to happen in her life time.

"Oh, dear god, Alice!" Bella exclaimed as the girl was holding up an outfit with crotch-less panties and some lovely top thing that was very much see through, and didn't hardly cover anything.

"What? I think this would be found incredibly sexy, if you let him see you wearing this," Alice said with a shrug, "Rose, back me up on this!" Alice exclaimed.

"Hell yes this would turn him the hell on!" Rose said, "I mean, as long as he really does have a penis, if he doesn't, well, you might be out of luck," the girl said, teasing Bella a bit as Bella stuck her tongue out at Rose.

Finally, when her friends had made all of the decisions about what they were going to be purchasing for her to wear for Edward when she was ready to wear something unbearably sexy for him. Or at least they called them sexy, Bella just thought they looked like death traps in the form of underwear.

Next, her friends just made her try on various things, deciding whether or not they looked good enough on her to buy or not, as well as doing them same thing for themselves. It was certainly an interesting situation to be in, and Bella found herself just wanting to be back at her little loft with Edward, curled up on the couch maybe drinking some sort of hot drink, but, no, she was stuck here, shopping.

One good thing, though, was the fact that they actually sat down for their meal, taking their time to eat for that day, at least, it was much better than everything else that they had been doing. Her friends each had managed one bag of cloths so far, where they had forced about three bags worth on her, plus the naughty lingerie that they had forcibly encouraged her to purchase for the purpose of pleasing her husband.

She was still a little irritated about that one, and probably would be for quite some time.

Huffing a bit when they returned to the shopping, Bella was getting closer and closer to being completely done with the whole shopping thing every second. Finally, the day was coming to a close and Alice and Rose were deciding that it was time for them to go back home, they put the two bags of cloths they had each gotten in the trunk, and made Bella take her six in the back seat of the car with her.

She couldn't have been more irritated with her friends for making her take so much time shopping, and, not to mention, make her spend so much of Edward's money on clothing that she didn't really need, even though they did insist that she needed some of those things. It was nice to have some things that weren't paint splattered, but she didn't mind wearing her artist clothing much, but now she supposed her verity of accessories, make up, and actual clothing combined with the things she would hide and never think about ever again she had had a long day of shopping.

She was almost considering telling Edward to skip the dinner when she got home and just go straight to the foot rub, because that was what she felt like she needed. When they reached her house, she got out of the car, grabbing all of her bags successfully, keeping her friends from coming up to her house, informing them that she would talk to Edward about a night for them all to chill at a local bar that she sometimes went to, and often times bought some of her artwork for cheap, essentially just enough to cover the costs plus an itty bitty bit of profit.

Finally making her way into the apartment, she set all the bags down and let out a huff of breath before looking over in the kitchen to see Edward just finishing up the meal he had been cooking. "Long day?" he asked her with a smile.

"Yeah," she said.

"Good thing I cooked for you, then, huh?" he said with a smile.

"Yup," she said to him, walking over to where he was standing as he had stopped cooking for a minute. "You know, I actually missed you today," she informed him, standing on her toes and kissing him softly on the lips.

"I can tell," he said softly, kissing her back.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so in the next chapter you'll find out how Edward knows her ... And if you would like to see that, you should review. Because if I get a ton of them, I will post tomorrow. If I don't, it's not going to be until at least Wednesday, if not a week from today. :) <strong>


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**Alright! So this is it! You get to find out how Edward knows Bella! I got a lot of people guessing and I am pleased to say that none of you got it right, though those that guessed were quite close. ALSO the outpouring of love I got in plenty of the reviews seriously made my day yesterday, and it would be awesome if I got as many reviews as I did for the last chapter! ANYWAY Enjoy the chapter and leave a review if you like it!**

* * *

><p>The dinner Edward had made for her had been absolutely delicious, and she had thanked him over and over again for making it, but he just continued to chuckle at her and inform her that it was no problem at all for him to have made it for her. And, that, he had rather enjoyed making it for as well. She just grinned at him, wondering how she had managed to get so lucky. Tomorrow, she would plan the day for Edward to come face to face with her friends.<p>

"I am sorry if I spent too much of your money today," Bella said, pulling Edward's card out of her bag and handing it over to him and smiling a little apologetically at him, "But, Alice told me that only ridiculously rich people have cards like this, is that true?" she asked Edward, just plain ol' curious.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Edward said, smiling at Bella as she sat at a stool and watched as Edward cleaned up from their meal, making her smile just a little bit at the sight of it.

"Well, when I said that you probably wouldn't tell me, my ever eloquent friend Rose suggested that I give you a blow job, and stop right before you would cum and then demand that you explain yourself if you wanted me to finish," she said, with a shrug, seeing Edward blanch for a second, which made her giggle a little.

"Your friend said that?" he asked, still a little shocked.

"Yup. I told her I wouldn't do that. It would be mean," she said to Edward with a shrug.

"Well, thank you for not planning on torturing me later today, I quite appreciate it," he said to her as he shook his head a little bit at the situation before he finished cleaning up the dishes before he moved over to where Bella was sitting, seeing her starting to get up to move over to the couch, he immediately picked her up.

"You don't get to walk," he informed her, "You spent all day dealing with your quite obviously crazy friends, and now I am going to make good on my promise, okay? So I want you to relax, pick something to watch, and I will give you an amazing food massage, and then massage anything else that you might want me to massage for you," he said to her with a small smile on his lips before he bent down and kissed her gently before setting her down on the couch.

"Why are you so nice to me?" Bella marveled as he set her down on the couch, his rich voice chuckling at her slightly as he sat down by her feet, making sure she had her remote in hand as he grabbed the lotion he had decide to keep close by as he had been planning on pampering her the second that she had returned home from her shopping spree, and not only because he felt a little bad that she had to deal with crazy friends because of him, but mostly because he wanted to remind her how nice he could be.

"It has a little to do with the fact that I am crazy in love with you, and have been for quite some time, even though you never knew who I was," he said to her, starting to rub at her feet with the lotion, making her sigh in satisfaction as she let him work on her sore feet.

"Oh, really? Is that so?" she asked as she relaxed in the bed, looking at him carefully.

"It is," he said, nodding as he worked on the sore muscles, much to Bella's delight.

"Will you tell me when you fell in love with me?" she asked him, and Edward just chuckled at her for a second.

"Which time? When I first saw you? Or when I saw you again for the second time and couldn't help but fall for you all over again?" Edward asked her as he started to work on her calves as well as her feet, smiling at her as he did so.

"Both," she said to him, not paying any attention to the television screen that was playing one of the design shows that she always found so amusing.

"Hmm, alright," Edward said, thinking a bit as he worked on massaging her, "Let's go with the time I fell in love with you again. It was not too long ago. Actually, it was in Vegas. I was there, celebrating a success of mine, and I had had my first drink when I saw you out on the dance floor with your friends. I thought that it was someone different than the girl I had fallen for earlier in life, but, no, it was the same person. It was you," Edward said, his voice calm and delicious as he spoke to her.

"Anyway, when I realized it was you, I downed another drink for liquid courage, and I approached you to dance, and … we did. And I knew that I couldn't let you go after I had found you again. So … I kept drinking, and I kept dancing with you, not wanting to let you out of my sight for fear of letting someone else snatch you up. Then, when I was significantly trashed, and so were you, I had a not-so-brilliant idea," he said, chuckling at himself a little.

"I asked you if you wanted to do something crazy and you laughed at me, but nodded, and I asked you if you wanted to get married. You bit your lip, all adorable like, and then grinned at me and said 'you're hot, so okay' and then … we got married and the rest is history. I was a little surprised in the morning when I realized that we had actually gotten married, I had half expected to have been married by some fake place, or that I had dreamed it all, but when I saw you in the morning and realized that everything had actually happened, I refused to let you slip through my fingers again," he said, shrugging.

"And that's how we got married in Vegas," he said, still working on massaging her legs, and Bella couldn't help but smile a little bit at him.

"Well, that makes me feel a little bit better about the situation we are in. And did I really say that?" Bella asked Edward, seeing him laugh a bit and shrug.

"I don't remember, I just remember having a brilliantly dumb idea. I could have just asked for your number, or even just to go back to my place with you, and then maybe we would have had a normal-ish relationship from that, but, no, I had to get the crazy idea to ask you to marry me," he said, shaking his head at himself.

"Well, I think I am starting to be okay with this, if that makes it any better at all," Bella informed him as she smiled at him, his hands starting to reach her sore thighs from the day, making her sigh a little bit. There was nothing super sexual about this massage, and it was just making her feel much better, especial since Edward's hands were completely magical, or at least that was what she was considering them as, magic hands.

"It really does make it better," Edward said, "I'm sorry I was so pushy, I just didn't want to lose you again, when I was so close to being able to have at least a semblance of a chance," he said to her with a shrug.

"Alright, well, now you have to tell me about the first time you fell in love with me," she said to him, eager to find out about when he had fallen in love with her.

"Well, this one will sound slightly more creepy than my other encounter," he said to her as a means of warning.

"It's fine, you can't be any more creepy than my ex," she said, waving her hand at him as she relaxed, enjoying the way his hands seemed to make her muscles turn into a pleasant sort of relaxed state, he was quite talented with his hands, she had to admit.

"Okay. The first time I fell in love with you was my Sophmore year of college, and you were a Freshmen. I had to take an art class, and I took an introductory course with most of the art students. I usually hid in the corner because I was an English major and I honestly kinda sucked. It was all just pencil drawings, but I wanted to be able to try and draw the characters and such that I saw in my head, but instead, I saw you," he said to her, smiling.

"I was enchanted from day one. You were so beautiful, sitting there, working away at your art furiously, and it would always turn out gorgeous, better than anything else the rest of the class could produce, but you would never think it was good enough, I wanted to walk up to you so many times and tell you that I thought you were completely brilliant and everything you did was breathtaking, even just scratch your nose, but that would have sounded creepy," he said to her, making Bella giggle a bit, seeing that she was captivated by him speaking, he continued, feeling a little bit better about this.

"That whole course, I was working on building up my courage to talk to you, to introduce myself, but I could never think of a way to do it that wouldn't make you think that I was a complete creeper. I thought of coming up to you and introducing myself and saying that I noticed you quite a bit and I just had to greet you. Or that you were captivating, or something else like that, I couldn't think of any other way to say it, which is kind of funny, if you think about it, since I was an English major and everything," he said, shaking his head at himself.

"Regardless, when the last day of class came, I was going to tell you that I thought your artwork was always the best in the class, and I was going to ask you out for a cup of coffee, even though that was a lame date idea. I just wanted to get to know you," he said to her, pausing for a moment.

"Why didn't you? If you had come up to me and asked me to coffee, I would have stammered a bit and then agreed," Bella admitted to him, knowing that if their circumstances had been different she would have eagerly accepted him into her life.

"Well, I was scared. You were so beautiful, and I was a very awkward boy even in college. It wasn't until I hit twenty two that I stopped being awkward, and by then I had lost you completely. Because, on that last day of class, another boy approached you before I could do it, which is what I regret the most, being unable to approach you in time to get to you first," Edward said, "I was, after all, crazy in love with you, even if you had absolutely no idea that I was that into you," he informed her.

"Who was the boy?" she asked, frowning as she didn't really remember the event that he was talking about.

"He was really tall, tanned, muscular, and there would be no way I could have gotten him to leave you alone. He was handsome, much more so than I was at that point, and you seemed to like him, and I liked you enough that I would rather see you happy with someone else, than ruin your chances at something like that by introducing myself then," he said.

Bella frowned a little bit before she laughed a little bit. "Edward, that man? He is my ex. He is the awful ex I had. Actually, I think he might be in prison right now, I don't know for sure. I was asked for a statement regarding him a year ago or so and I gave one, and I wasn't called again, so I don't know what, exactly that means, but I have a sneaking suspicion he was put in jail. If you had come up to talk to me then, I probably would have willingly ignored that man and turned towards you," she said to Edward.

Edward raised an eyebrow at her story, but didn't say anything, wanting to allow her the time to talk if she wanted it.

"The first time I met Jacob, the guy you saw me with, he was a total creep, hitting on me, trying to grab my ass and stuff. I was just being polite. The next day he had come up to me and apologized for his behavior, saying that he thought that that was the way most girls liked him to act towards them, and he asked if he could take me out to coffee to make up for his actions, and that was our first date, and I wish it had never happened," she said, shaking her head.

"He was my only boyfriend throughout college, and we broke up after I couldn't handle being around him anymore. Until you managed to get me to marry you in a drunken state in Vegas, I had sworn off men because of him. So, props to you," she said to him.

Suddenly, she felt Edward's lips on hers, and she couldn't help but open her eyes in surprise before kissing him back, Edward pulled away eventually, pressing his forehead against her's gently, his hands resting now on top of her clothing on her waist.

"Bella, I assure you, if I could go back in time now, I would and I would talk to you sooner, or at the same time as that jack ass that you got stuck with because I was a scared college boy that was totally head over heels for you. And I promise, I will always treat you with respect, okay? I promise you that," he said to her, kissing her gently again.

She couldn't help but smile a little bit at the way he treated her. "It's okay, Edward, there was nothing anyone could have done, it just was a bad situation, and I finally got out of it, and I am all the stronger for it today. And, Edward? Thank you for telling me all that. It makes you seem much like a random creeper," she said to him with a smiel.

"So you aren't weirded out that I have been in love with you for years?" he said to her, stroking her face gently, sweetly.

"Not at all. I think it is incredibly romantic, actually. I mean, I'm still not sure if I want to stay married, but … but I would like to give us a try for real. And I mean, I am not going to fight you every step of the way, I'll do what feels right instead of fighting it, because I am sure you know that I have been," Bella said, shaking her head at herself.

"Wonderful, that's more than I could have ever hoped for," he informed her, kissing her solidly on the lips with a grin on his face as he held her body close to his, not wanting release her as he held her snugly against his chest.

"I'm glad," Bella said with a smile and a little bit of a giggle before she lifted her head off of the couch to place a kiss against Edward's lips, wanting to feel the soft pressure of his against her own, and Edward happily kissed her back.

Bella felt safer in that moment, than she had ever felt in the past as she was encircled by Edward's arms, her's around his neck as their lips pressed against each other, totally consumed by one another as they lay there together in the embrace. Eventually, they pulled apart and Bella couldn't help but hum a little bit in contentment, biting her lip gently.

"You are far too beautiful for your own good," Edward informed Bella, kissing her forehead gently, and making her smile and laugh just slightly at him.

"I am glad you think so," she said to him as one of his hands stroked the side of her face tenderly, his eyes looking directly into hers, making her feel as if he was looking directly into her soul, and she didn't really mind the sensation it gave her.

"Edward?" she said to him softly, "When are you going to tell me what you do for a living?" she asked him.

"When I think you won't be a little freaked out by it," he said to her, simply as he kissed her lips quickly.

"Can I guess sometimes? Like, once a day, and you tell me if I am right or wrong, and then I have to wait another day before I can guess again? Or you just tell me when you're ready, but I still get to at least try and guess," Bella said simply, "I mean, as along as I remember to," she said with a little smile. She could be slightly forgetful sometimes.

"Alright, if you want to," he said for her, "But let's start that tomorrow, I still have a lot of you to massage properly," he informed her, kissing her softly on the lips, a mischievous smile on his lips.

"If you say so," Bella said, a bright smile across her lips as she looked at Edward lovingly.

* * *

><p><strong>Well! Leave a review and tell me what you think! Make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and I'll post on Tuesday instead of next Sunday. :) Until my next update, have a good life. :)<strong>


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**Okay! So! I totally meant to update yesterday, but I work up late so I was unable to, and I didn't want to first post in the late afternoon. So I decided to way until today! I hope you enjoy enough to leave a review!**

* * *

><p>The next morning when Bella woke up, she felt incredibly refreshed and relaxed, and she certainly had to give the credit for that feeling to Edward and his amazing massage. She had no idea how to properly thank him for talking to her like he had the last night, telling her all of those things about himself and about how he had known her before. It put her mind at ease, and it certainly aided him in getting to know her better, and getting her to like him more.<p>

Edward wasn't in the bed with her when she woke, but he was humming in the kitchen, and she couldn't help but smile at the sound. Rising from the bed, she stretched herself out a bit, before she stood up and walked through the little building in her pajamas before reaching Edward and leaning on the doorframe next to him. She couldn't help but smile at the sight of him. He wasn't wearing a shirt as he danced around the kitchen, making them some sort of eggs with breakfast potatoes.

Bella found herself thinking that she could certainly get used to a sight like the one in front of her now, and if she was going to be honest, the thought was slightly daunting, but she liked it none the less. She wondered if that was how women that knew they were going to one day marry their boyfriends felt. Except in this case, her husband was becoming her boyfriend, and she certainly found the situation a strange one.

He had managed to find his way into her heart and take root there. Seeing that he was done moving for a moment, she snuck up behind him this time and wrapped her arms around his waist, kissing the middle of his bare back before turning her head to the side in a bit of a hug. "Good morning," she informed him, moving away a little bit as he was turning around, wrapping his arms securely around her this time.

"Good morning to you, too," he said, kissing her gently, "You sleep well?" he asked.

"Mmhmm," she said, nodding at him, "I think it was thanks to one very talented man," she informed him.

"Should I be jealous?" he asked, raising en eyebrow which just made Bella laugh and shake her head at him.

"Look at you, trying to be funny," she teased as she slipped out of his arms and moved over to where she had left her new purchases by the door the other day before bringing them over to the area with her closet. Opening it up, she started to put some things away, leaving out the cloths she was thinking she might wear later this day.

Edward smiled as he watched her move away and go about putting things away in the little loft. Little did Bella know, but Edward was certainly planning on moving her into a bigger place in the near future, giving her a space that she could really use as a gallery, and have a real bedroom and maybe another bathroom. He wanted to give her as much as he possibly could.

As Bella finished putting things away, Edward finished his cooking and brought the food to the table, Bella meeting him at the table as she smiled at him a little bit before she started eating, knowing that Edward was fine with her just digging in at this point, and if he wasn't, too bad. She was doing it anyway.

"This is delicious," Bella informed him.

"Glad you think so, I worked very hard on making you breakfast," Edward said, making it sound as if he had to climb a mountain in order to make her a decent breakfast.

"Uh, huh," she said, smiling over at him as she finished her meal, bringing her dishes to the dishwasher and then moving over to change her shirt. The sweatpants she had worn to bed were already splattered with paint, but the shirt was not, and she was thinking that she might try and keep it that way for a little while longer, so she pulled on something different before walking back past the kitchen. "I am going to go work on my latest painting now, just so you know. Will you get me at about, say, four? I need to make some phone calls about planning something very important, it's the event that will provide the friend test for you," Bella informed Edward as she walked out of the room, a small smile on her lips as she moved into her studio.

She wanted to finish her confusion painting rather quickly, she was ready to remove her doubts and allow certainty to set in, though she supposed she couldn't be completely certain of Edward quite yet, she needed to know more about him, she needed to know everything from the small things to the big things about him.

Until that happened, she didn't know how she was supposed to trust him as much as she needed to if she was going to be sure about letting the marriage stand as is. She knew that it would be much more difficult to get a divorce later on, whereas doing the annulment now would be far more simple. But did she really want to cut Edward free and risk him finding someone else that was better than her?

Then again, it seemed highly unlikely that Edward would ever move on from her, and she from him at this point. Especially with the way he made her more and more crazy about him as each and every day passed by. Apparently he had a talent for it.

He also had a remarkable talent to get her to let her guard down. And let him in. Looking back on it, the day she went shopping with her friends had been perfect. The beginning to her day had been far more wonderful than she had anticipated, and she was certainly glad that Edward had been bold that morning, it had been far too long since she had had an interaction such as that, and actually remembered it happening.

Whatever had possessed Edward that morning, she almost wished to see it again sometime soon, because she was certain it would end in a happy state that was oh so much better when a man was involved. That only helped to further the confusion she felt, though, and not provide the answers that she truly needed in order to sort out what she wanted to do with the situation.

Sighing, she finished what she needed to for the day, cleaning her brushes and making sure everything looked as she wanted it to at this point. Nodding to herself in satisfaction a little bit, she exited her studio before grabbing things to shower, seeing Edward intently typing away at his computer. She couldn't help but smile a little bit at the sight of him. It was rather adorable, to see the man sitting there, typing away so furiously at the keys.

On her way to the bathroom, she stopped beside him and kissed his cheek, she saw him smile before turning his head. "How about a real kiss?" Edward asked her, smiling a little as he did, puckering his lips playfully at her.

"Why on earth would I ever want to give you a real kiss?" Bella asked, sounding shocked.

"Maybe it's because I am unbearably sexy and you just can't seem to resist my charms?" Edward said, teasing her a little bit before Bella rolled her eyes at him and leaned forward, pressing her lips gently against Edward's, pulling back with a smile.

"Is that good enough?" she asked him.

"Hmm … yes. But only because I am on a roll with my writing and don't have time to sweep you off your feet and kiss you good and proper," Edward informed her as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, good. I will be off to shower, then," she said, smiling at him a little bit before she slipped away and into the bathroom, starting the shower right up before climbing under the hot water, feeling any tension that had built over the past few days wash away.

A little part of her, hidden away inside of her being, wanted Edward to come and join her in the shower right now. But another part of her thought that it would be too soon. Mostly because she was certain that if Edward was naked in the shower with her, she wouldn't be able to resist herself in the slightest. That would be far too tempting a situation to be placed in at this point in the relationship.

Bella knew that she wasn't opposed to some things now. She certainly was attracted to Edward enough, but she wasn't ready to seal the deal with him just yet. For goodness sake the first time they had tangled together was when they were both drunk and in a hotel room. She wanted to wait until she was certain about him, if that made any sense at all. Though, if he kept wearing her down at the same rate she was sure that it wouldn't take very long.

Sighing to herself, she worked on getting herself clean, doing the full job for everything. When she finished, she just stood underneath the water for a little while, enjoying the feeling of the water falling over her back as she stared at the wall across from her, a small smile on her face as she thought about all the sweet things that Edward had done for her lately.

That was when she decided it, if Edward passed the friend test, she would be ready to consider actually staying married to him. Of course, when her father came with the paperwork, because she was certain that he would, if he approved of him in any capacity, well, then it would be a done deal, they would be able to stay married. She was certain that she was falling in love with this man, and at a rather quick pace. If he passed all of the lovely tests that she had set up for him by means of having very pushy friends, and he continued to be the way he was now, she would be a fool not to let the marriage stand.

Finally moving from underneath the hot water she quickly dried herself off, putting on some good lotion to make sure her skin was nice and smooth and in the shape she liked it in. She washed her face quickly, getting rid of any stubborn paint that hadn't come off in the shower or had left a little residue on her skin. She didn't really want to deal with acne problems on top of all the other problems in her life.

Once finished, she got her cloths on, hanging up the wet towel and then stretching slightly before she walked out of the room and moved over to Edward again, seeing that he was seemingly reading over what he had written, and was studying it carefully before he noticed that she had exited the bathroom.

"That was quite the shower," he commented, saving whatever he had been working on and closing the computer before setting it down carefully in front of him.

"That's nothing compared to some that I've taken," Bella said, watching as he stood up and moved over to where she was standing.

"Hmm, well, what is your record time?" Edward asked her, tilting his head to the side as he looked at her.

"An hour," she answered quickly.

"Really? What were you doing in the shower for an hour?" he asked her, a small smile on his lips.

"Thinking. A lot of the time the best place for me to do my thinking in the shower. You know, like thinking on what is the best choice when it comes to the very confusing man standing right in front of me," she said to him with a small smile on her lips.

"Oh, really? And did you figure anything out about me while you were tucked away in that shower?" Edward asked her, wrapping his arms around her waist as she tapped a finger on her bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before she grinned at him and shook her head.

"Nope. I have figured out nothing at all," she said to Edward.

"Well, that's too bad," he said, "Though I have the feeling your lying. Hmm … if I kissed you would you tell me the truth?" he asked her with a small smile.

"I doubt it, but you could try," she said with a shrug.

"Don't mind if I do," Edward mumbled, bending his head down so he could press his lips gently against hers, smiling a little bit as he did so before pulling back and looking into her eyes, "Was that a good enough kiss for you to share with me your thoughts?"

"Not even close," Bella said seriously.

"Then I suppose I must try again," Edward informed her, pressing his lips against hers once more, but this time pulling her body much closer to his as he lengthened the kiss, wanting to really give her a good and long kiss like he knew she deserved, when he pulled back, he pecked her lips a couple more times before smiling, "How about that time?" he asked her as he watched her pretend to deliberate and then shake her head.

"You really gotta try harder than that. I mean, do you want to know what I decided about you or don't you?" Bella asked him, challenging him almost, and Edward couldn't help but growl a little playfully before he wrapped his arms even more securely around her before bringing down his lips to hers.

This time, he let their tongues tangle as he dipped her body back in the kiss, making sure to let his passion for her slip through as he let their tongues dance and his body hold her at an angle to the ground. He wanted to take her breath away if he could manage to do that. Eventually, he pulled back for air, pulling them both upright as he pressed his forehead against hers and smiled slightly, feeling a little bit accomplished. "Was that good enough?" he asked her in a quiet, almost breathless, voice.

"Hmmm," Bella mused, thinking on sharing with him. He certain had given her some pretty delicious kisses, but did she really want him to know what was going on in her head? Maybe he would fake his way through things if he knew what was coming? But for some reason she doubted it. Maybe it was his eyes.

Not only were they the most beautiful pair of eyes she had ever seen, but they were also some of the most truthful eyes that she had ever had the fortune of looking into. She should have spotted it, or at least listened to her instincts when she looked into Jacob's eyes those two short years ago and saw the disloyalty and lack of honesty in them. But that was certainly in her past, and she didn't need to revisit the painful memories of him.

Smiling then, she looked up at Edward and placed a hand on the side of his face before standing on her toes just a little and kissing Edward softly. "I will tell you. Just so you have a little bit of a warning about what you are going to be put through before I agree to this whole, keeping the marriage thing. Tomorrow night, we are going to be doing something with my brother and my friends, I don't know what yet, or what time, but you will be spending it with the people that I find the most dear to me," she informed him.

"And, you are going to be tested there. I know this because I know my friends and my brother. Last time my brother met you, it was only for a short amount of time and he approved of you, I just want to be sure his mind stays the same, and you have to pass my friend's inspection, okay? And then … my father will be bringing the annulment paper work in a week, and if you can convince him that it is okay for me to stay married to you, if I so chose to, then, and only then, will I stay married to you. If not, well, we'll just have to settle for dating for a little while and then get re-married later on, because I now have no doubt in my mind that I want to be with you, Mr. Edward Cullen. The only question is if we stay married for now or not," Bella said to him as she smiled at him.

Seeing the grin that had been spreading across his face as she had spoken, she couldn't help but grin at him as well. Suddenly, his lips were on hers and he was kissing her with more passion than she had ever felt from before, and when he pulled back he picked her up in the air, spun her around once and hugged her twice. "I knew you would see the light," Edward said, kissing her solidly on the lips again, making Bella giggle a little bit.

"Well, I'll have you know that now I expect you to tell me what it is that you do for a living," she informed him, "Well, maybe not right now if you don't want to, but, I think you are going to have to tell me. After all, I intend to be with you for quite some time, whether or not we have wedding rings," she informed him.

Thinking for a second, Edward nodded slowly. "Alright. But I'll just have you know, that it's going to be quite the surprise, and I don't want to tell you right now. I will tell you another night, but I will tell you. Before the week is over, is that okay with you?" Edward asked Bella, tilting his head to the side.

"I think I can be okay with that," she said, smiling at him before he grinned right back, his lips finding hers in another kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>Just so everybody knows, I am gradumacating from high school tomorrow, so I will not be able to update for three or so days due to the ceremony, grad parties, and severe lack of sleep. BUT if I am impressed by the number of reviews I have left today, I will update tomorrow nice and special. :) ALSO next chapter is Edward being interrogated by Rose, Alice, and even Emmett! :D So, leave a review if you want somethin' tomorrow and not in four days or more. <strong>


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**Well! Here is Bella's dinner with her friends and Emmett for Edward's first "test"! I hope you enjoy it. :) **

* * *

><p>That night Bella had called up her brother and her girlfriends, talking to them about a little meeting with her husband the next night. It worked out well that everyone was available to interact with one another, and so Edward would be able to go through the process of getting approved by her friends sooner rather than later.<p>

Bella was itching to finally be told what it was, exactly, that Edward did for a living. She realized that he did something with writing, but she wasn't entirely certain what. And if he was an author, she had never heard of Edward Cullen as a big name writer. Of course, she may just not be as well versed in popular literature as she thought she was. On the other hand, he could be a fantastic editor, or someone taking a leave from a different job to be around her, and instead is spending time working on writing a novel like they have always dreamed of doing. Or at least that was what she was guessing at.

Regardless, she wanted to know what it was that he did fairly badly, and she was sure that it would be the same for anyone else in her shoes. That day, she and Edward had spent their time together. Edward was determined to spend the day getting to know Bella better, and to have her to get to know him better. She found it sweet that he was so concerned with how well they knew and understood each other, it made her heart warm a little bit.

They had talked about everything and nothing, sitting on the couch and drinking their respective coffee's. They talked about favorites. Like, how Bella's favorite animal was either a dog or a deer and that Edward was a fan of the honey badger, and not just because of the great youtube video that was a sensation for a while, but because of the creatures persistence and determination. Especially when it's food source was something so tricky to come by and even manage to use for a source of food.

She informed him that she was a fan of Lilly's and that she actually had a tattoo of two Lilly's on her side, intertwined with one another. Of course, it had been covered by clothing all the time that they had interacted with one another. And, of course, Edward smiled at her smugly, saying that he had noticed the night they had shared together. She of course had narrowed her eyes at him and hit his side, making him laugh and then admit to having the same favorite flower. She couldn't help but smile at that.

With the mention of the tattoo, he immediately asked her for the story behind it, and she was happy to share. In college, her freshman year before she started seriously dating Jacob, she had decided to get a tattoo she had wanted for years, and since she was old enough and had enough money to do it, she decided to go for it. It turned out great, and she was pleased with her decision. She also believed that every artist should be just a little bit quirky and unique, and so the tattoo was perfect for her. She then asked Edward if he was ever going to get any tattoo's, or if he had any.

Edward told her he didn't, but he thought tribal tattoo's were pretty cool and if he were ever to get one himself, he would get a tribal tattoo on his back. Then he told her about his favorite childhood memory. It was a day when he had gone shopping with his parents, and it had been dreadfully boring and just as he was about to complain for the thousandth time about having to go shopping with them any longer, they brought him into a toy store and told him he could pick out his very own play set for their back yard. And it was only because he had been a wonderful boy lately, and they felt like treating him.

It had been the best present he had ever gotten from his parents, and the moment always stuck out to him since it was such an out of character thing for his parents to do, and certainly made him warm inside, happy to think about that day when his parents were so randomly generous towards him. They still had the play set in the back yard of his house and when people with children visited, they still got to enjoy it.

Bella shared a memory of her own, it was the first time that she had created something legitimately beautiful in artwork, and that was the moment she had known that she wanted to be an artist. She had been given a little easel by her father, and some paints and brushes and told to make a beautiful picture, since she was such a little artist. Charlie, her dad, had left to go downstairs and watch the game while she painted.

She was about eight at the time and hardly knew anything, but she still painted. And she drew a picture of a sunset over the water, because she knew her father enjoyed fishing with his friends and she wanted to make something that would make him smile when he saw it. The colors blurred together in a magnificent mess, the sun just barely identifiable and the same with the water. When she finished, she was incredibly proud of her work. And even though it didn't actually look like what she envisioned, it was actually pretty great.

As an ever responsible kid, she cleaned up her brushes and got the paint off of her skin before picking up the canvas and pulling it down the stairs and to her father, presenting it to him proudly, like it was a gigantic gem that she had just discovered, and he had loved it, knowing exactly the idea of the painting, even though it was hard to tell. He immediately hung it up over the television set so he could look at it whenever he wanted. And it was still there to this day, and that was the moment she knew that she wanted to be an artist for certain.

When it reached the time for them to leave the house, Edward was almost disappointed as he had been enjoying his time getting to hear stories about Bella's past, and sharing things about himself with her. It was a wonderful chance to get to know the woman he had fallen in love with better than ever before. Even though he had fallen in love with her two times in his life, he didn't know as much about her as he would have liked.

He certainly had known enough to realize who she was and treat her well, he had kept an eye on her throughout college when he was able to, but lost track of her when they went their separate ways. He had always secretly hoped that if he found out she had left her boyfriend, that he would be able to swoop in and take his place rather quickly, so no one else could ever dare to snatch her up, but the world had had different plans for him, since he had stopped going to college after only a couple of years. He hadn't needed any more, especially because he had had his success already and really didn't need to spend more money on an education that was no longer important.

Edward had debated about staying at the college just so he could get to know Bella better, maybe by taking some classes with her, or "accidentally" running into her now and again, but he decided that he needed more time to focus on his wonderful job opportunity instead of spending all of his time studying for classes and preparing for tests that would only cause him to tear his hair out in frustration.

But he determined that he ought to just concentrate on his job, she did have a boyfriend at that time, after all. Now, though, he was lucky enough to be close to her. He was lucky enough that she was interested in him, and he was exceedingly lucky that he was being allowed to be "tested" by her friends this day, that meant that he really did have a shot with her, and more so than he had thought was possible.

He was excited for the possibility of their future, and so now he was more than happy to be going to this dinner with Bella, her friends, and her brother. If anything, this was going to be the perfect time to prove himself further to the woman, hopefully make her fall for him even more than she had already. That was what he was hoping for. Otherwise, he was afraid she would be turned away from him and that would be hard.

When it was time to leave, he walked out of the house with Bella, his finger laced with hers as she smiled up at him, walking with a little bounce in her step that he found absolutely adorable as they made their way to the car and then to the restaurant that they had chosen for the night. Edward was planning on covering the whole meal, regardless of the turnout, because he certainly had enough to afford it and he didn't mind spending it on the people that were close to Bella and important to her.

If they were important to Bella, they were important to him, too. And Bella was noticing his attitude about the situation, too. She was loving the way he seemed to care so much about what her family thought, and she seriously wanted it to continue, because that meant good things for him, very good things.

Arriving at the restaurant, Bella got their table and let him to it, sitting down next to him in the booth they hand, her hand under the table, twined with his as he sat on the inside and she kept a look out for her friends eager to see them and pull them over here to start the process of approving Edward. She was excited about this. Edward could tell it, too. She was practically bouncing in the seat she was in, which he found adorable, and couldn't help but smile slightly at.

When they finally all had arrived, Bella stood up and waved them towards the booth they had. Everyone slid in, Bella sitting next to her friends, as Emmett sat next to Edward, she was glad that they had the rounded sort of booths that would allow for easier conversation and such. Also, it was easy to fit everyone at the table, including her lug of a brother.

"Well, Edward," Emmett had started, "It's good to see you again. You been treating my sister the way you should lately?" he asked, his eyebrow raised as he inspected Edward a little bit, like he was trying to find some flaw in him by looking at solely a physical attribute, which certainly made Bella chuckle just a little bit before shaking her head.

"He has been," Bella assured her brother, before she was shushed so Edward could talk.

"Like Bella says, I have been. I have treated Bella with the utmost respect in every single way," he assured them while smiling over at Bella a little bit, she couldn't help but smile back and she noticed her friends looking at each other with pretty happy smiles on their faces. Those sorts of smiles made her nervous sometimes. It either meant something great was going to happen, or something that she would find incredibly unbearable.

"Well, that's all well and good," Rose said, speaking up, But what we really want to know about is how you plan on taking care of her in the future. Now, I know Bella doesn't like to be taken care of all that much, but she forgets that sometimes it's actually good to be cared for, how do you plan on dealing with that?" she asked.

Bella just rolled her eyes at her friend's question, almost finding it insulting to her. And those smiles, she was sure, was in response to the questions that they were going to be asking Edward throughout the night. If Emmett hadn't been at the meal, she was certain that most of the questions would be seriously inappropriate and related to things that Bella did not want to have to talk about in a slightly upscale restaurant.

"How do I put this? I plan on making her happy every single day of her life if I have a choice in doing so. If I can make her happy, I will. And if I can't make her happy, I will at least make her feel safe as possible, and loved. Most importantly. And, if she doesn't want to be cared for she won't have a choice in the matter. I have already started practicing that with her, since I have been making her breakfast as of late," he said, smiling over at Bella and making her smile right back at him. His words warmed her heart and she was so glad that she had started to let him into her life.

"Good answer," Alice mused, seeing Rose nodding a little bit. "But I have another question for you," Alice said, her lips turned up in a little bit of a smile, "Are you going to encourage Bella to practice impeccable style? Because currently, she doesn't really work too hard on her appearance, so if you worked on it for her, that would be quite wonderful," Alice said.

Rose hit her on the arm and Bella just laughed at her question while shaking her head at the woman. Edward just chuckled at her. "Suffice to say, I will take her shopping and pay for anything that suits her fancy. I'm not going to dictate her style, though. That's your job," Edward said to Alice with a smile.

"Well, I suppose you are right on that …," Alice trailed off with a little bit of a shrug.

"Okay, I have one for you," Emmett said, wiping his mouth, "Do you intend to support her if she can't survive as an artist without complaint? And do you plan to sleep with her within this week? Because if you do, I am going to have to protest that it far too early, but that is coming from a brother standpoint," Emmett said.

"I do. I have more than enough resources to take care of Bella in any way that she needs to be taken care of, whether or not she wants to allow me to. I doubt she will have a choice. And I don't have any timeline of plan. That would be entirely up to Bella, here," Edward said without hesitation, though Bella's cheeks were turning bright red at the fact that her brother was prying into when she did or did not have sex with Edward. They were already married after all, so it wasn't like it was an awful or outrageous idea.

"Well," Rose said, "When you do sleep with her, you sure as hell better be patient and gentle with her. Has you told you anything about her ex yet? Because if she hasn't, and she doesn't in the next week, I may have to tell you myself. It's important for you to know, as that was a bad relationship and I suspect that she isn't entirely over what all happened," she said, her eyes trained on Bella who's eyes moved directly to the table at the mention of her past relationship.

"She hasn't … And I do. I plan to be perfectly patient with her, and she will certainly be the one leading everything in the direction she wants it to go, and most certainly not the other way around," Edward assured Rose.

Rose nodded in satisfaction, "Be sure to contact me and Alice if Bella doesn't tell you all about the relationship with Jacob, because it's important. Bella knows I'm right about this, but she doesn't like thinking about it anymore, it's easier that way, I think. And I know I am talking about this like she isn't here, but that is the only way to talk about it, because it was such a rough time in her life I don't blame her from wanting to forget about it, but Alice and I remember every second of that awful time," she said, shaking her head.

"That's right," Alice said, "Look, she's avoiding looking at us and has that scowl on her face that she get's when she's uncomfortable with something. So … she knows we're right. Now, I do believe we should change topics to something much more pleasant and forget about the interrogation for now. I think Edward has passed the most important tests with flying colors," Alice informed the group.

"Woah now, Alice, I haven't gotten one of the most important questions out of the way yet!" Emmett protested, "I was going to ask if Edward is a) a sports fan and b) a fan of Bella's artwork. Two very important things for me to be aware of, you know," Emmett said seriously to Alice as he looked over at Edward.

"Well, I am a sports fan, and I do like Bella's artwork, I think it's some of the best stuff I have ever had the fortune of seeing," he said, "And I am very lucky to be married to such a talented artist," he said, kissing the top of Bella's head gently, making her lips twitch up into a little smile. She was certainly thankful that they had changed topics.

"Emmett, he has to like my artwork. It is a requirement if he wants to stay married to me, you know that," Bella said, rolling her eyes and smiling slightly as she did so.

"Right, Bells. I forgot you would make certain of that right away before allowing him to enter your home," Emmett said, shaking his head.

And then the meal began. As Bella was sitting there, she enjoyed speaking to Edward, especially as he whispered sweet things into her ear throughout the meal, as if he was trying to help her forget the unpleasant conversation that had transpired only moments before, and she was thankful for that that he probably didn't understand the magnitude of what he was telling her.

A couple of times he had placed sweet kisses on her temple or the top of her head in the conversation, just randomly, and she got looks and smiles from her friends as Edward did such things. He was passing this little interview situation with flying colors, and Bella was incredibly glad of this. Jacob hadn't passed, and she had ignored them. But she didn't want to think of that at the moment.

Instead she focused on her friends and getting to talk to them. Throughout the meal, she kept catching looks that Rose and Emmett were throwing back and forth at each other, and she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Eventually she tugged on Edward's sleeve and whispered into his ear that Rose and her brother were making eyes at each other. He looked up, laughed a little bit and then nodded.

She couldn't help but smile a little bit, this was potentially a very good thing, and now Bella was determined to set her friends up so it might be possible that Rose would be a little bit happier now. If those two were meant for each other, she would be quite pleased. After all, Rose was a man's woman, she knew cars like nobody else, loved sports, and could hold her liquor better than anyone else she knew – Emmett included.

They could be perfect. And so she resolved to make sure Emmett asked her out at some point and Rose knew that she would be alright if Emmett asked her out and she accepted. In fact, she was certain she would encourage it, she would get Alice in on it, too. And Edward. Smiling a little bit, she heard Edward offering to pay for everyone's meal and she rolled her eyes.

Bella knew he wasn't going to take no for an answer, and her friends were smart enough not to protest his offer, just thanking him instead and they had paid quickly and were on their separate ways. The girls hugging Edward and Bella goodbye, Emmett shaking hands and giving Edward a stern "intimidating brother" look before hugging Bella and picking her up off the ground.

"If this guy gives you any trouble ever, remember to call me up," Emmett said, smiling as he did so.

"Okay, I promise. Now go home, Edward and I need to go home and sleep, because I swear just talking to you people make me exhausted," Bella said, feigning that she was just about to fall asleep standing as she leaned against Edward.

"Oh, you are just so funny, aren't you?" Emmett said, rolling his eyes before walking away and saying goodbye as her friends did. They all went their separate ways, and soon Bella was at home with Edward, curling up under the covers and sleeping peacefully in his arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Posting this today was my post-gradumacation present to all of you that read my story. And I'd like to say thanks for reading. AND for those of you who review loyally, you make me warm and fuzzy inside and smile every time. SO keep it up. And if that isn't you, maybe you'd like to try and be that person ... :P Have a wonderful day!<strong>


	21. Chapter Twenty

**Okay! I am pleased to say that I was able to get this one out a lot sooner than I thought I would, and so I do hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Bella woke up the next moment to the smell and sound of sizzling bacon. It seemed that Edward was taking care of her again, just like her friends had instructed him to do, and she couldn't have been more pleased with that particular piece of encouragement. She was glad that he seemed to be following it, too. Rising from the bed, she stretched out almost like a cat before walking over to the kitchen, seeing Edward cooking and the sight making her smile.<p>

"Why, hello there sexy husband of mine," she said to him, a smile on her lips. Bella was feeling like spending time with Edward today, mostly on the couch, or she could have him watch her paint after she finished her confusion painting. Because she was certainly past that stage now, there was no doubt in her mind that she wanted to be with Edward. The question was, exactly to what extent did she feel for him? Was it love that she felt towards him? Or was it only a huge amount of like?

That was the only that was plaguing her mind at the moment, making her question, but she was certain she would figure it out in time. "Why, good morning sultry wife of mine," Edward responded, smiling gently at her before turning away from the stove a moment to press a gentle kiss to her lips. Bella was unable to keep herself from smiling as she pulled away from him, biting her lip a little bit before stepping away and taking a seat at the table.

"What is my stud muffin making for breakfast today?" she asked him cheerily.

"Stud muffin? Well, I am making some awesome bacon, delicious sunny side up eggs, and some toast with butter and a light dusting of garlic powder on top," he informed her with a smile as she nodded at him.

"Well, that sounds delicious," she said to him, smiling a little bit as she relaxed in the chair, content to watch Edward move about the kitchen. He found him adorable, the way he acted as he moved through the motions of cooking.

She thought he seemed almost graceful in the way he moved about, doing this and that to get everything ready for their consumption, and she found it sexy. A man that cooked certainly earned bonus point in the sexy department, which she greatly appreciated that her husband possessed. It was a bonus to things. She was certain that if Edward was less attractive but still acted the same way, she would be equally as interested in him.

"Breakfast is served," Edward declared as he placed a full plate in front of her, making Bella smile.

"It looks absolutely wonderful," she said to him with a smile on her lips.

"Good, that was my intention. Now tell me if it tastes nearly as good as it looks, why don't you," Edward said, fixing himself a plate before taking a seat next to you as he smiled brightly at her. His smile melted her heart a little bit, she loved that smile. It warmed her right down to her toes and she wasn't afraid to admit it anymore.

She couldn't help but consume the whole plate of food that Edward had made her as he had done a fantastic job of cooking. It was almost obnoxious to her, how good Edward seemed to be at everything, but at the same time she found it a bit endearing. She liked that he was good at things, it meant that she didn't have to work at the everyday little tasks nearly as much. If they stayed married, she wondered if he would keep this up or if he was only doing it to impress her. She couldn't help but be curious about that. Something told her that this wasn't something he was doing in an effort to impress, but something he was doing because it was a part of his nature.

"So, Bella," Edward said as he finished his food and picked up her plate, taking it to the sink as he started to wash the dishes, "Do you want to tell me about your ex, that Jacob guy? Your friends seemed to think that it was important that you did. If you share that, I will tell you exactly what it is that I do," he said to her, smiling a little bit.

She tensed at the sound of Jacobs name reflexively but quickly relaxed. It had been a long time since he had been in her life, and she was thankful for it. But the memory was still painful, she was surprised that she had gotten through the conversation she had with Edward so easily the other day. Maybe his presence just made it easier to remember and still function.

Bella sighed for a moment, running a hand through her hair and looking at the ceiling. "Alright. But I want to do some painting first, okay? I have a lot I want to get done with the stuff I have right now, and then I will talk to you, how does that sound?" she asked, her stomach pitching about at the thought of having to tell Edward all about her experiences with Jacob. She hated to remember it.

"That's fine," he said, smiling gently at her, seeing the distressed look in her eyes. Having finished with the dishes, he walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her, kissing her forehead gently, "Remember, when you tell me, I will be right next to you, and I'll even hold your hand through it, okay? If it's important to tell me, I still want you to, but I will make it as easy as possible," Edward promised her, kissing her temple sweetly before releasing her.

"Go on, now, work on that painting of yours, I have some work I need to get done today, too. When you are done, let me know. I can stop whenever you need me to," Edward promised Bella smiling gently at her.

"Thanks, Edward, for understanding," she said, kissing him quickly on the lips before she stood and headed straight to her studio to work.

As she worked, she wondered how she was going to bring things up to Edward, how she was supposed to properly tell him about what had happened with Jacob, why her friends thought it was so important that she shared it with him. Obviously it was because she had been abused by a man for quite a long time. She had been smart enough to get out of it as soon as she could, once she had been able to get some help from her friends that is.

She shuddered a little bit, remembering the way that he had cut her off from her friends and those that loved her. He hadn't wanted her to be able to get help from anyone, he wanted her to himself and he made her paint every day, paint for him specifically. He said he would provide for her, that she didn't have to worry about making money as long as she painted for him. For about two month after she had escaped him she couldn't stand the thought of painting as it reminded her of him.

Then, she did a series of paintings about anger and abuse and it seemed that she had managed to cure herself, that she was able to kick the feeling about painting that she irrationally had gained from being with Jacob. Of course, she would be telling all of this to Edward rather soon, she hated that her mind was dwelling on it.

Bella still managed to work though, finishing this particular painting and smiling at it a little bit, it had turned out the way she wanted it to, and she wasn't going to start the next one today, she would let the other dry completely before she moved it, after all, she did have an important conversation with her very wonderful husband that she had to have.

Leaving her studio, she went to clean herself up, getting the paint that stained her skin off before she walked out of the bathroom to see Edward still working, his fingers flying over the keyboard at a rather impressive speed. She always seemed to be impressed by Edward, it was hard not to be with the way he was.

"Edward? You at a good stopping point?" she asked him, wringing her hands together. She wanted to share with him, but she was extremely nervous about doing so. She didn't know how to handle herself in this situation. She wished she could, but she hadn't been around a man that cared about her other than family in several years, and it was nerve wracking to have to do this, but she was going to. Because if she didn't she was certainly going to be murdered by her friends. Edward was a good guy, she felt like he deserved to be told about her sticky past.

"Of course," he said, quickly saving and setting his closed computer to the side before opening his arms to her, urging her close to him. Bella smiled and found a bit of a refuge inside of his arms. It felt good when Edward held her, unlike what it had felt when Jacob had held her towards the end.

"I hope you can be patient with me, I haven't had to tell anyone about this in a very long time, so I am sure you can imagine that I am just a little nervous about this," Bella said, biting her lip, glad that she didn't have to look at Edward to do this, if she did, she was certain that she wouldn't have been able to handle it.

"It's okay, Bella," Edward said, kissing the back of her head and squeezing gently, "I promise I can be very patient, haven't I proven that so far?" he asked her with a soft smile on his lips, his hands finding hers and lacing his fingers through her fingers in a means of trying to support her as much as he could.

She smiled a little bit at the way Edward was acting. She loved that he was so supportive of her. "Okay, good," she said, nodding a little bit before she went silent, her heart pounding as she was nervous that telling Edward everything would scare him away from her. She didn't want him to leave her, even if she may not want to stay married to him, she still wanted to have a relationship with him.

She took a deep breath to prepare herself, taking comfort in the way that they Edward was slowly running one of his hands up and down her arms. "Okay," she said, "So, you know that Jacob met me outside of one of my freshmen classes?" she said, starting out as she heard Edward mumble an "mmhmm" to her.

"Well, he was a Junior at that time, and, at that point I was flattered that an older guy would be interested in me. I was embarrassingly interested in him. Just because it was so novel did I allow us to go out to coffee a couple of times together. And he seemed really nice, and we dated for about two years, he got a good job and then he asked if he wanted to move in together, after all we had been dating for a long time. And, since it seemed only natural, I said yes, and so I moved in with him. We were living together for my senior year and that's when it all started," she said, taking a deep breath, and squeezing Edward's hand a little bit.

"He had had these moments before, where he seemed to get really angry about little things, like me talking to a male classmate, or forgetting to text him where I was when I said I would, or even when I didn't promise anything. But I thought nothing of it, just that he really cared about me and was a little bit jealous, and I didn't mind. I honestly liked the attention, I had never been the object of someone's attention before, at least not that I knew of," she said, smiling a little at Edward, remembering what he had told her.

"Anyway, we moved in together, and we shared a bed and everything. Jacob and I had never … sealed the deal. I always told him that when I thought it was time that it would happen, but not before then. And, he seemed to think that my moving in with him was going to mean that once everything was settled, it would be okay. It was one night after I had gotten ready for bed in my lovely oversized t-shirt and shorts that he kinda … forced himself on him. Before I knew what was happing our cloths were off, he had a condom on and then … it happened. I hadn't gotten even a chance to tell him no, it hurt pretty bad, and he just kissed my face, told me that he loved me, and that it would feel good soon. I just wanted him off, and wanted him to stop, but … I came involuntarily," she said, shivering as she remember that.

"I had thought that it was silly to feel awful over what had happened. But … I felt dirty, Edward. Extremely dirty. He told me that it was okay, that we were living together, had been dating for two years so it was only natural and that I would feel better over time. He was so sweet to me after that, and he didn't push it again for awhile. And … Looking back on it now I know that what he did was rape. I know it. Then, I was just … too naïve to think for myself. I should have ran then. I haven't been with anyone other than Jacob, and I'm kind of scared to. Even you, Edward. I know you won't hurt me, but I'm more afraid that I'd freak out because of some weird psychological thing," Bella told him taking a deep breath.

"So it wasn't until a few months later, when I had spent a night out with friends and forgot to tell Jacob when I was going to be back and where I was going, so he wouldn't worry, that he first hit me. I walked into the apartment at about one in the morning, still laughing at a friends joke as I closed the door behind me to turn around and see Jacob standing in front of me with his arms crossed. He was so angry and we fought and then he hit me, right on the jaw. He made me fall on the ground, and I was so stunned I couldn't speak. He apologized, so much, he felt awful, or I thought he did. And then he took me to bed and he "made love" to me, but I didn't want it, I just went along with it so he wouldn't freak on me again," she said, shaking her head, "That was the first bruise he gave me, right on the jaw. I couldn't go out in public with out putting concealer on it for weeks. He said he didn't want anyone to think that he was abusing me. I didn't realize that was what he was doing," Bella said to Edward, shaking a little bit in his arms as she continued to speak.

"Things went on like that, it didn't happen often, but every time it did it was a little worse, I had a broken bone a couple of times and he fixed it while I was a sleep and told me that I needed to pretend it didn't hurt, so no one would know and then I could go to classes. And that was what I did, I was so scared that he would be angry at me again. I didn't want Jacob to be angry with me.

"Once I graduated, things got even worse. He got extremely protective of me. Extremely. I wasn't even allowed to leave the apartment, he wouldn't let me see his friends and he told me that his job would pay for everything I needed, that as long as I painted for him, made him beautiful artwork, that he would take care of me and love me. And I believed him, I believed that he loved me and I thought that I loved him, too. Why else would I be sticking by his side. Then he started coming home angry and drunk and he'd beat me and when I would wake up the next morning, he would have made me this wonderful breakfast, and bandaged me up, and he would be so sweet to me, for a whole week, and then it would happen again.

"It was one day when he came home and I hadn't finished cleaning up all the dishes in the kitchen, because I had been painting, when he got seriously angry. He yelled at me, screamed, told me that I was a worthless whore and a bitch that no one would ever love. He beat me the worst then, kicking me, hitting me, he even slammed an aluminum bat into my legs to make me fall, and hit my back and … it was awful. He had beat me so bad there was no option other than him bringing me to the emergency room, he just left me there, telling them that he would check on me in a couple of hours, so he would be able to go and get some things figured out with work so he could stay with me.

"My friends got there before he did, and they got it out of me that Jacob had done this to me, and that I was scared. We got the police in there, my dad was called in, and we quickly got together a restraining order. Then Jacob ran. I was free of him. It was obvious that I was an abuse victim, when they took x-rays they could see the places where the bones didn't heal quite right. It was a month before I was let out of the hospital, three before I could paint again, and four before I could handle painting without thinking of the bastard that I had thought I loved.

"I went to therapy for this, and it helped. But I still am worried I'll back slide. Part of the reason you freaked me out so much was because a man was in my home again and last time I was alone with a man things didn't go so well," she said, cringing a little bit, "But it's been over a year now, since I had gotten all better. And … that's where I am now. That's why my friends thought it was important to tell you and why, well, why my family is so protective. Emmett doesn't make it very obvious, but when he found you in my house I am certain he was ready to beat you to a pulp if you had shown any inkling of a hint that you might possibly hurt me in any way," she said to him.

"And … that's it," Bella said, her body shaking a little bit at the memory of things. It was scary. Having to remember this stuff. She didn't want to remember it, but she knew that she had comes to term with it all, but that didn't make it any easier for her to remember the experiences.

She lifted a hand to her cheek and found tears there, frowning a little bit at the presence of them on her cheek. Edward had turned her around by that point so he could look at her face, his hands reaching out and slowly brushing the tears off of her cheeks before kissing her forehead gently and sweetly. "I am so sorry you went through all of that, my beautiful wife," he informed her, speaking sweetly, "I promise you, I will never hurt you like he did. Only love you, and love you for real not whatever weird possessive love he felt towards you," he said, placing gently kisses below each eye as he wiped away her tears gently.

"I promise," Edward whispered to her.

Bella nodded, smiling at him a little bit before she wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his neck for a moment, taking in his masculine scent, and loving it. She liked the way he smiled. She would have to tell him that some time. Eventually pulled away and took a deep breath. "I'm better now," she informed him with a smile.

"Good," he said, kissing her forehead, "Does that mean you are ready to finally have me tell you, straight up, what it is I do?" he asked, smiling.

"Of course," she said, wanting to hear his job title, she knew he wrote, but she had no idea at what level or for what.

"Well, I am a published author, under a pen name. You know that writer with the quite popular books? What's the name … David Stone?" Edward said, smiling at Bella before leaning forward and whispering in her ear, "That's me," he said to her before he pulled back and saw her eyes go wide.

"Wait … are you telling me you are a millionaire?" she asked him, incredulous.

"Yes, yes I am," he said to her, kissing the tip of her nose.

"And you have been living in my apartment for the past few weeks? When I am sure you are used to much more … luxurious living?" she asked him.

"Yes. But I actually prefer this. It is nice," Edward informed her with a smile, seeing her look of disbelief.

"Prove it to me," Bella said, not believing that he was a famous author, of course, she could believe he might be a broke and starving author, but a famous and successful one? No way.

"In the next book, you find out the birth story of the main character, a couple more things are revealed, and it's set up for the final novel, which is already finished, but they are going to wait another year and a half to actually publish," he said, "Oh! And I am working on a new series, one about a particularly enchanting woman. You've been my muse for that one," he informed her with a smile before pressing his lips to her forehead again.

"You're kidding," she said, surprised.

"Not at all. Still want that annulment?" he asked her.

"Maybe. If I'm not in love with you. But, damn, you keep getting more and more amazing," she said, shaking her head at him.

"Does that mean you believe me?" he asked her with a smile.

"It means that I will pretend to believe you. I can't possibly have ended up drunkenly marrying a millionaire that is the writer of my favorite book series," she informed him before shaking her head and kissing his lips, "But I suppose, if you say so, I will believe you."

"Good. Now, come on, I think I owe you a wonderfully delicious lunch, filled with comfort food and dessert like foods," he informed her picking her up and carrying her over to the kitchen with a smile on his face as Bella smiled at him, laughing lightly a little bit.

* * *

><p><strong>So now Edward knows about Jacob and Bella know's exactly whowhat Edward is/does. Yay! If you liked the chapter, leave me a review, please! :) **


	22. Chapter Twenty One

**Yay! Another chapter! If you like it, leave me a review. :) **

* * *

><p>Edward was especially sweet to her the next few days, treating her extremely well as he wanted to be sure that she felt properly cherished, and he had been kind enough to inform her that this was what he was doing, that it was rather intentional that he was spoiling her with kisses, warm hugs, and even his reading of the book that was coming out later that year, one of his. And Bella had finally really believed him when he told her that he was a famous author, though it was still a bit much to wrap her head around, not that she was particular upset about being married to a millionaire, bit was just strange to know that he had all that money hidden away and yet he didn't seem to be anything other than a normal human being.<p>

She thought it was nice, and almost unnecessary that he was being so kind to her, but she certainly wasn't about to fight him on it, she enjoyed being pampered. When she was sitting on the couch one day, having Edward read to her, the things he had written for the series she loved of his, she heard a knock on the door, hearing Emmett's panicked voice on the other side, calling for her to open up. Standing, she rolled her eyes at her brother before opening it and raising an eyebrow at him.

"What is it, Emmett?" she asked, seeing a wide eyed look on his face.

"I have to host a dinner party for my boss!" he informed her running to the house as Edward closed the book he had been reading to Bella before standing and walked over to where Emmett had stood in the middle of the room.

"Woah now, dinner party?" Edward said.

"Yes. And I can't cook to save my life, and I have no idea what to do. I mean, my place is clean enough, I've done good with keeping that clean, otherwise I know Bella would kill me, but, well, I need help. I don't know how to have a dinner party!" Emmett said looking back and forth between Edward and Bella.

Bella was just laughing at the distressed state that Emmett was in, and she couldn't help but smile at him a little bit. "Em, we'll help you out. How about this, I'll even get the party planning squad on duty. Alice and Rose can help us out on this one. We will even be at the party to make sure everything goes smoothly, but we'll stay in the kitchen unless your boss wants us with you, because you never know how that's going to go," Bella said, calming him down, "Edward and I can cook, and Rose and Alice can help figure everything else out."

"Thank God!" Emmett exclaimed, wrapping his arms around his little sister and squeezing her tight in a celebratory hug. He was seriously grateful about this whole situation.

"Get off, Em!" she said, pushing him away from her, "One more thing, I need to know the time frame we have for this," she said to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Three days," Emmett responded, seeing Bella nod.

"Right, I better call in the reinforcements now, then," she said, smiling at him, "I promise, it's going to be absolutely fantastic," Bella said, seeing Edward chuckling a little bit at the situation. It was slightly entertaining the way that Emmett had reacted to having to host a dinner party for the people he worked with.

Dialing Alice's number, she figured getting her to agree first would make the whole process go over better, Rose didn't like just doing favors for anyone, though Bella had a feeling that she wouldn't mind helping her brother out a little bit. Smiling a little, she waited for Alice to pick up, hearing her voice practically singing on the other end as she greeting her.

"Why, hello to you, too, Alice," she said to the girl, laughing.

"What? Don't judge me. What is it that you need, anyway?" she asked Bella.

"Well, Emmett got asked to throw a dinner party for his work, and he's over here, completely freaking out at the moment, and I was wondering if you would care to be rather helpful and plan a dinner party with us? I am positive that Emmett would really appreciate your help," Bella said, smiling a little bit as she spoke to Alice.

"Of course! I always love helping. You call Rose yet? I'm sure she would like to help out with this one, too," Alice said.

"Not yet, I was wondering if you could do that? Also, time frame is three days. I figure we want to meet at Emmett's place for planning? So you guys can take a look at the space and figure out how you want to go about this thing?" she said to Alice, seeing Emmett talking to Edward as she spoke to Alice.

"For sure. And that sounds perfect. We can start the planning tomorrow, meeting at Emmett's house at, say, eleven? I want to be sure he is up and not gross by that time, and I know you aren't a morning person, either," Alice said.

"Sounds good to me," Bella said.

"Perfect. See you tomorrow, then!" Alice trilled before hanging up the phone before Bella could even manage to say goodbye herself. Shaking her head a little bit, she set the phone down and looked over at Edward and Emmett.

"Alright, Em, so we have Alice on board. Tomorrow we will all be coming over to your house at eleven o'clock, okay? So you better be showered and dressed by then, got it? Otherwise you won't be getting any help from us, okay?" Bella said to Emmett, seeing him nod at her a little bit before grinning and wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug, making Bella roll her eyes and in turn making Edward chuckle a little bit.

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that!" Emmett informed her.

"I think she gets it," Edward said, laughing at the distressed look on Bella's face, she felt as if her brother was trying to squeeze all the air out of her lungs.

"Em … you need to let go, so I can start breathing again," she informed her brother, pushing at him to let her go. Emmett released her, looking a little sheepish, though a grin was still on his face.

"Sorry, Bells. I just got a little over-excited. I'm just really glad that you are going to help out with all of this, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't. I mean, I love to eat food and stuff but I am worthless in the kitchen, and I don't know what you are supposed to do to prepare for a dinner party, I've only gone to ones at other people's homes," he said with a shrug.

"Well, lucky for you, as an artist and my friends being avid party planners, I know how to do these things rather well," Bella said, patting her brother on the arm before moving over to Edward and leaning against him.

"Now, Emmett, I would suggest you go home and relax for a little while, you are going to be very busy these next few days preparing for your all important dinner party, after all, you do have to impress your boss, right?" Bella said, smiling at her brother.

Emmett nodded a little bit. "Alright, I will see you tomorrow then?" he asked.

"Bright and early," Bella said, nodding.

"Good. And if I'm still asleep, feel free to beat me into consciousness," he said, smiling a little bit at her before he walked out, waving a good bye to Edward and Bella before he made his own way home.

Bella just shook her head at her brother before looking up at Edward and smiling. "Well, it looks like we have something to do now, keep us occupied for a while," she said, resting her chin on Edward's bicep as she looked up at him.

"Mmm, it seems so, so I do believe that you and I ought to take advantage of our alone time for now, we'll be far too busy with making sure Emmett is all ready for his first dinner party, and apparently calming down his nerves, to have much time to ourselves," he informed Bella, kissing her forehead gently.

"I see. And how do you suggest we do this?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I do believe we should move to the couch, put a movie in, and see what happens?" Edward said, a little bit of a mischievous smile on his lips.

"Alright, sounds good to me. You pick and start the movie, I'll make us some snacks," she said, smiling at him before moving into her little kitchen area, and shooing Edward away to go and pick out the movie they were going to watch. She was just putting together some small meat, cracker, and cheese sandwich things for them to snack on while they watched whatever Edward picked out, at least until they got distracted.

Grabbing the plate she had made, she sat down next to Edward on the couch and smiled at him. "Want one?" she asked him, seeing him smile a little at her and take one from the plate of about twelve that she had made for them. Relaxing back in the couch, she ate one herself as her eyes were on the screen, looking over at him, she smiled before bringing her eyes back on the screen.

"I hope you like what I picked," Edward said to her, as the movie started, and it just so happened to be the Princess Bride.

Bella couldn't help but laugh a little bit at him. "I don't mind at all. This is certainly one of my favorite movies, I know way too many of the lines verbatim. Oh! And I also know that Vinzzini says 'inconceivable' five times in the first thirty minutes before he's killed," Bella informed Edward with a smile.

"Watch this often?" he teased her as he took another mini-sandwich off of the plate Bella was holding.

"Only at most every sleepover me and the girls have had. I mean, this and Mean Girls, plus another random movie that's always different, and usually sandwiched between the two classics," she informed Edward with a little shrug as she kept her eyes on the screen, smiling slightly as she relaxed there, smiling over at him.

The movie was about thirty minutes in when the plate was empty and Bella set it down on the table in front of them before snuggling up to Edward's side as Wesley and Buttercup finally reunited, as they were rolling down the hill, Bella couldn't help but giggle a little bit, she always thought that this particular part was rather silly. Almost more so than when the men dressed as giant rodents came out in the forest.

Looking up at Edward, she smiled. "Would you become a pirate and then come and find me? If you were in a situation like Wesley?" Bella asked him, pretty much teasing him a little bit.

"Of course I would. And to signal to you that it was me, I would be sure to say 'as you wish' to the first command you gave me," Edward said seriously, making Bella laugh a little bit.

"Good. Though I would never get engaged to a slimy prince or anything, so you wouldn't have to hide your identity from me for very long," she informed him simply, before kissing his jaw line sweetly and turning her head back to the movie screen.

"Wait a second," Edward said, taking a hand and gently grasping her jaw to turn her head towards his, "You don't get to turn away that easy from me," he informed her, leaning down and kissing her lips gently, "There, now you can if you want."  
>Bella hummed for a moment in thought before shaking her head. "I think I need another one of those before I can watch the movie again," she informed him, pressing her lips against Edward's again, though this time she lingered a little bit longer before pulling back and smiling a little, "I think I'm good now," she said, teasing him.<p>

"Too bad, I'm not," Edward said, chuckling a little bit before he kissed Bella deeper this time, parting his lips with hers and letting the kiss last a long while, his hands wrapping around her to pull her body closer to his as he slowly let his tongue tangle with hers, before he pulled back a little bit, and smiled at her. "You ready to watch the movie?" he asked her, teasing.

"Oh, shut up," Bella said, rolling her eyes before resuming the kiss, the movie long forgotten as Edward was far more interesting and far more important than anything that might be happening in the movie she had seen more times than she cared to admit.

Her hands started to wander eventually, moving along the contours of Edward's back and enjoying the feeling of his muscles under her fingertips. She loved the feeling. She loved how strong Edward was, and how safe she felt in his arms. His strength wasn't something she feared, like it had been with Jacob, but it was something she reveled in. Edward's lips finally broke from hers, moving along her jaw and leaving lingering kisses as they slowly moved down her neck, spending a particular amount of time on certain parts of her body.

Bella couldn't help but smile a little bit, she loved that it seemed that he wanted to mark her as his she really did like the possessiveness in this situation, it made her feel desired in a good way. She encouraged Edwards kisses onward before an idea popped into her head. He had once already given her a bout of pleasure, so why shouldn't she return the favor?

Smiling to herself, she moved her head to claim Edward's lips, pushing him up and back, making it so that she was the one more in control, Edward allowing her to do so, she swore she could feel a smile on his lips as they changed their positions, her hands wandered down his chest as she rested against him, finding the button and zipper of his pants and quickly undoing it as she grinned against his lips, moving them to his jaw, slowly kissing upward before sucking his earlobe into his mouth as she pushed the pants down his hips a little bit.

Edward let out a little sound of protest but she claimed his lips with hers once again. "Shh, no arguing," she informed him, keeping their foreheads together as she said so before she kissed down his neck, sucking gently on the flesh there as she found the hem of his boxers and eased that down. Her heart was pounding in her chest. It had been a long time since she had done this for anyone, or even wanted to do this. But she cared about Edward so much that she wanted to, that she wanted to bring him pleasure.

He had brought so much more joy into her life than she had ever imagined, that she certainly couldn't help herself in this situation, she wanted to enjoy him. All of him, if he would let her. She kissed the hollow in his collar bone gently lingering there before moving up so she could look him in the eye, seeing him about to protest her actions again, Bella just smiled and shook her head at him. "You can't seriously tell me you don't want this," she said, "Because a certain part of your ataomy is telling me otherwise," she informed him, letting one of her hands gently run up the side of his shaft, earning a little bit of a groan from Edward.

"I don't want you to do anything you don't feel like …," Edward said, being cut off by Bella's lips.

"I feel like doing this, so shut up," she said to him with a smile, "You think far too much sometimes," she informed him, kissing his lips gently before she released them, moving down his body before she placed a gentle kiss on the tip before looking up at him to see that his eyes had fallen closed. Apparently it had been awhile for him, not that she minded.

Slowly, she wrapped her lips around him, moving her head slowly up and down, one of her hands moving in synchronization with her mouth, his was too big for her to fit all into her mouth. Using the other hand, she gently began to fondle his balls, hearing a groan from Edward once again, she was glad to know that she was doing this rather well, as long as she kept getting responses like this from him, she was positive this was going to end well.

She hummed a little bit as she increased her movements, hearing Edward groan out more and more frequently before she heard him growling out her name. She liked hearing her name on his lips, especially when she was doing this.

"Bella …," she heard him growl to her, "I … I am going to cum," he informed her, and so she went even faster, knowing that he was probably trying to warn her, just in case. Just a moment later, she heard him groan out her name at quite the volume and she felt him explode into her mouth, she kept up the movements, swallowing what she could as she continued.

When Edward finally relaxed, she sat back, wiping the excess spit off of the corners of his mouth before resting on his chest and grinning at him. "How do you feel?" she asked him, still smiling a little bit as she asked.

"Shit, Bella, I wasn't expecting you to do anything like that," he said, shaking his head, "But I definitely am not disappointed," he informed her, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her up to his lips, pressing a quick kiss there.

"Mmm, I'm glad to hear that. I was afraid I was going to be a little out of practice," she said to him, resting her head on his shoulder for the moment, one of his hands running up and down her back at the moment.

"If that was you out of practice, then I swear I don't know if I will be able to handle you when you're in practice," he said, shaking his head at her a little bit, "You do know you didn't have to do that, right?" he said, not wanting her to feel as if that was something she had to do, just because they were actually starting to be in a serious relationship.

"Mmm glad you think so. And I do. I felt like it, Edward. If I didn't, I wouldn't. You should know me better by now. When have I ever done something that I didn't want to do?" she asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Hmm … you let me stay here?" he teased.

"I wouldn't have let you stay if I hadn't been hoping that something good might come from it. Whether or not it was a conscious thought, the thought was still there," she informed him.

"Alright," he said to her, kissing her forehead gently.

"I'm going to go get a glass of water real quick and then I will come back and snuggle with you," she said, smiling at Edward a little bit as she kissed his cheek gently, getting up and out of his arms, as he shook his head at her. She loved that she was able to drive Edward as crazy as she did, and that he was blown away by her. It made her feel better than anything else could have.

Getting herself a glass of water, she downed it quickly before re-filling and walking over to the couch where Edward had pulled up his pants and underwear again before she set the water down and moved back to sit with Edward, all the while smiling at him.

"I think we took proper advantage of our alone time, don't you?" Bella said to Edward, teasing him just a little bit.

"Mmmm," I quite agree," he informed her before kissing her gently on the lips again as his arms found their way around her waist, content to have her there in his arms as Bella was content to rest comfortably against him.

* * *

><p><strong>Let me know what you think of the chapter! :) <strong>


	23. Chapter Twenty Two

**First and foremost - I am SO incredibly sorry for taking so long to get this out to you! I had a nasty case of writers block on top of being too busy to fight my way through it and think of how I was getting to where I want to go next. But! On the other hand, I broke the writers block into a million little pieces that magically sprouted into plants full of a wealth of intriguing new ideas that will help bring this story to an ultimate close! But not for many more chapters. :) I am theoretically going to be updating almost everyday in order to apologize for my long lapse in updating, but if my life get's too busy I will only be updating weekly. You know, getting ready to go to college occasionally takes up a lot of time. ANYWAY! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I am planning on posting another one tomorrow. I am starting on that chapter RIGHT NOW, so it will be done for you guys tomorrow. Thanks to those that read so much! :) **

* * *

><p>"Emmett! Wake up," Bella said to her brother, ripping the blankets off of his bed, "You need to wake up because you have a lot of work to do!" she said. When she, Alice, and Rose had arrived at her brother's apartment, well, it was a complete mess. She knew that they were going to definitely have a lot of work to do in his home, and they weren't about to start cleaning the place until he had woken up.<p>

They had already made some coffee for themselves, and were all planning on making some breakfast soon, to help entice Emmett out of his bed, though the challenge looked to be more and more difficult as time went on. "Emmett, there are ribs," Bella said to him and Emmett sat up immediately.

"Ribs? Where!" he asked while Bella blatantly laughed at his reaction to her question, shaking her head all the while.

"Emmett, there are no ribs. But you still need to wake up now. You've got a lot to accomplish today if you want to have a good dinner party for your boss," she said to him, hearing him groan a little bit at what she was saying to him.

"Seriously, Bella? I was having a very nice dream," he said, growling before he swung his legs out of the bed and rubbed the back of his head.

"Yes, seriously. We need you to help with your own party, believe it or not. We aren't just going to do all the work for you, sorry about that," she said to him before she hit him on the head a little bit before shaking her head a little bit, heading out of the bedroom.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll be out to help in a few minutes, I am going to shower so I don't stink. Will there be food when I am done showering, because that would be wonderful," Emmett said while he stood up.

"I can make that happen, Edward offered to help," she said as she smiled, "He's quite the good cook, specialty with breakfast, so, why don't you go shower and we'll get some food ready, and if you are fast enough there just might be some food left over for you to have," Bella said as she moved out of the room, shaking her head a little bit.

Emmett just shook his head. "I assure you, I will be quick enough to make the food," he said to Bella before the woman slipped out of the room, making her way over to Edward who was standing in the kitchen, chatting with her friends, waiting to cook something until Emmett had been woken, he had assured her that if he made food when Emmett was unconscious and left none for him, there would be more trouble than was worth, and Bella had certainly agreed.

Wrapping her arms around Edward's waist for the moment, she smiled up at him, not bothering to apologize for interrupting the conversation until the two girls turned to talk to each other. Bella smiled as Edward's gaze turned to hers and he dipped his head down to press a soft and gentle kiss on her lips. "Wake him up?" he asked her watching as she nodded a little bit.

"I managed it, all it took was the word 'ribs' and he was sitting up and ready to go," she said to him with a little bit of a smile, "But I think we better have something to eat ready when he gets out here, not to mention I'm starving," Bella informed Edward.

"Of course, anything for you," he said, leaning down and kissing her gently on the lips before he released her once again and began to work at getting them a rather good breakfast made. He smiled a little bit before focusing on what he was doing before Bella then moved over to sit next to her friends who were smiling widely at her like they knew something that she didn't.

Grinning a little bit at her friends she tilted her head to the side, "What are you two smiling about?" she asked them with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, most of it has to do with the way you and Edward all goo-goo eyed at each other," Alice said, teasing her a little bit when they heard Edward chuckle while he was working at the stove to make their breakfasts.

"Were you two spying on me and Bella's private moment," he teased them, looking over his shoulder at the three women.

"Why, yes, in fact we were," Rose blatantly said, getting another chuckle out of Edward and an eye roll out of Bella.

Bella could only shake her head at her friends and let out a bit of an irritated breath at them. She loved all her friends quite dearly, but sometimes they seemed to be a little … overbearing. "Okay, fine, we have established that Edward and I have a problem where we get caught up in each other. So sue us. Still in the honeymoon phase, sorry," Bella said, just rolling her eyes. She wasn't going to let them bother her today.

Alice just laughed a little bit, "Well, enjoy the phase while it lasts," she said to the girl, "I have a feeling I'm going to be meeting someone very special very soon," Alice informed them all, getting an eye roll out of Rose.

"She has been talking about this all morning, between our moments of making fun of you two. Alice believes that she is going to meet someone very important in the grand scheme of her life within the next week," Rose said, shaking her head.

"Hey!" Alice said, putting her hands on her hips, "I am serious! My instincts don't lie. Remember when I got that feeling that you were going to end up falling for someone that was close to …"

"Alice! You can stop there," Rose said, her cheeks turning just a little bit red, earning an eyebrow raise from Bella, though she was just glad that the attention wasn't directed at her any more.

Alice smiled at Rose a little bit. "See? What other proof do you need from me?" she asked Rose with an eyebrow raised as if she was threatening to spill some sort of secret that the two held between them. Bella couldn't help but wonder what it was that they were talking about, but, she chose to ignore the way the girls were acting.

"Okay, you two, let's stop the bickering like small children and let Edward feed us some delicious breakfast that is being used to lure Emmett out of his man cave," Bella said, smiling a little bit as she looked over at Edward who was just finishing up the cooking job and putting it on plates for all of them, including Emmett, though if he wasn't out soon, they were going to stick it in the freezer and make him find it.

Once the food was done, Edward set it down in front of all the girls, and then found a place next to Bella, leaning over to place a gentle kiss on her neck that made her smile and blush a little bit, especially as soon as Emmett walked out, fully dressed and ready to go right behind them. He cleared his throat, making Bella turn around and smile at him.

"You two can't be doing any of that … funny business stuff while you're here. I feel like I am being a bad big brother allowing someone to be all close to my little sister like that. I do hope you understand, Edward," he said, very serious as he went to go and grab his food.

Bella just rolled her eyes as the rest of them tried to hold back a little snicker. Emmett sat down across from Bella and Edward then, narrowing his eyes. Bella couldn't help but wonder what had brought on this incredibly brotherly attitude that he seemed to so suddenly have adopted.

"Well, darling brother, I do believe you gave up the right to declare no funny business in your home when you didn't wake up before we all got here, and therefore, I can do whatever the hell I want. And don't worry, it won't be too much for you to handle. Just maybe some making out when we get too tired to keep cleaning for much longer. You know how that goes," Bella said, teasing Emmett a little bit, almost egging him on. She couldn't help herself. She loved messing with her big brother.

"Bella, I do believe you are evil," Emmett said seriously before paying attention to his food, seemingly not willing to deal with her at that particular moment, and Bella honestly had no problem with that at all. Edward had just been chuckling silently next to her with her friends during the whole exchange.

Once everyone was eating, Bella clapped her hands together and smiled at all of them. "Alright, now, I am going to clean the dishes and Rose and Alice are going to tell you boys the plan of attack, alright? Then I shall join you and help with whatever needs the most help at that moment, sound like a good enough plan?" she asked them with a smile.

Alice nodded and Bella took the dishes, getting them nice and cleaned off while her friend dictated everything that needed to happen and who was going to be doing what, and told them how fast things needed to be finished. Once Bella was done with the dishes, she was sent to work cleaning the bathrooms with Edward, just because Alice had decided she wanted to mess with Emmett.

That whole day passed by quickly, with a short break in the middle filled with absolutely delicious Chinese food and a very annoying Emmett. Rose was the one that seemed to be keeping him in check the most, which Bella was thankful for. She was certain that they wouldn't be getting anything done at all if Emmett was just sitting around whining the whole day long.

When all was said and done, the house was completely spotless, and everyone was feeling rather accomplished, even Emmett. But, the next day they were going to have to begin that wonderful task of setting up the decorations, making sure everything had its proper place and looked immaculate, as well as preparing as much of the food they were going to be eating and serving as possible.

Edward and Bella were going to be in charge of cooking, and the rest of them were going to be in charge of setting up decorations, or at least making the place look perfect. It was clean, but it wasn't up to the 'perfect' standards that both Alice and Rose held. If it was up to Bella, she would say that the place looked good enough already, but this was why she had her friends to help along.

So the second day, Bella spent her time in the nice kitchen working on making various soups and prepping various appetizers as well as getting things ready so they would be able to start meat and make I quickly the next day. With their help, they were all certain that Emmett was going to throw the best damn dinner party his pharmaceutical company had ever seen.

Finally, the day of the dinner party arrived, and they had all worn their best so they could act as hostesses. Alice and Rose wanted to be there to make sure that Emmett didn't screw any of their hard work up, and Bella was there with Edward to help with the food mostly. Of course, Alice and Rose would help with presenting it all at once, but for the most part, it was going to be up to Edward and Bella.

Alice and Rose would be walking around with champagne as well as appetizers until everyone had arrived and Emmett had invited them all to sit down for the meal, which was when they would bring in all the food. As well as making sure everything kept on moving and kept on getting cleaned up as they went, the dinner party was sure to be a gigantic success, now the only trick was to get Emmett to calm down enough so it could actually happen the way that they wanted it to, because at this point, Emmett's nerves were going to ruin the whole thing.

"What if it sucks?" Emmett asked, pacing back and forth.

"Em, it won't. We all helped to work on it, and you don't get anything less than perfection when you have Alice and Rose working with you, you know that," Bella said, shaking her head at her brother a little bit.

"But, what if I screw something up?" Emmett asked, wringing his hands.

"You won't as long as you stop your nervous twitching. Put on your business man face, or that face you put on when you go talk to a girl you really like so you don't turn into a blubbering nervous mess, you know?" Bella said. She was currently standing with Emmett by the door, trying to calm him down as he waited to open the door and greet the people that walked into his home. The rest of them were all in the kitchen, getting things ready for when enough of the guests had arrived that they could begin bringing out the appetizers and the champagne.

Emmett nodded a little bit and let out a bit of a breath. "I think I can do that," he said to himself, hoping that he actually would as he was currently terrified that if this went badly, he could end up losing his job faster than he could apologize for the mess that was the party.

Bella continued to try and calm him down until his doorbell rang for the first time and he went to open the door, smiling brilliantly at the first guest to arrive as Bella headed back to the kitchen to smile at the girls and Edward. "First person here, you guys ready to be Emmett's support team? Because I am sensing he might need some random pep talks tonight …," Bella trailed off, looking over at him.

Emmett appeared to be doing fine, but she had a bit of a feeling that he was doing his little freak out routine inside his head. But he was doing a very good job hiding it, so at least there was that

The party went smoothly for the first part with no interesting occurrences. But then, Emmett's boss walked in. The tall southern man called Jasper. And what Bella witnessed was rather odd. Alice's eyes met with Jaspers and the two walked up to each other and smiled like they had been missing an old friend for year and years and that they had finally found them. Bella couldn't help but wonder what the whole exchange was about, and she was certain that she would find out later. It was especially odd since the boss was completely ignoring Emmett and seemed to instead be somehow trapped in Alice's eyes.

The grasped hands for a second, Jasper bending down to kiss the back of her hand delicately as she blushed a little bit. Words were exchanged, and it sounded like they were talking about planning a date. Eventually, they parted with reluctance as there was a party going on around them, and there were things that Alice needed to do in order to help the party and make sure things went smoothly.

When she came back to the kitchen area to gather more appetizers, there was the biggest smile on her face that Bella had ever seen her wear. "Alice, what was that whole thing with Jasper, there?" she asked the woman as she tilted her head to the side a little bit.

"Well," she said, "I do believe I have met my soul mate, and we are going to be going a date on Thursday. He's going to pick me up. Isn't that just wonderful?" Alice asked them, a starry look in her eyes.

"And you can tell this when you have known the guy for, what? Thirty seconds?" Rose asked, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"I have impeccable instincts, and you know it, Rose. Don't doubt me. Especially when he is agreeing with me on this whole topic," Alice said, "You are just jealous that the man you are crazy for is off limits until you have a particular conversation with a particular person. Same goes for him, too," Alice informed Rose, raising an eyebrow.

Bella was in the kitchen with Edward, helping to prepare the plates of food that would soon be going out to the table for the guests to eat. "And who, pray tell, is Rose crazy for?" Bella asked over her shoulder, seeing Rose tense and Alice just smile smugly.

Clearing her throat, Rose answered Bella, "How about we talk about this over coffee tomorrow. It's quite the story and I'd like you to be able to listen to all of it," she said, staying remarkably calm for the situation at hand. Usually she wasn't so good under this sort of pressure.

"Sounds like a plan, but, Rose? Can you tell our guests that they should take their seats at the dining room table so we can bring out the food? Edward and I have almost finished getting everything together so it would be good if we could bring everything out as quickly as possible," Bella said, not even looking up at Rose as she helped Edward put the final flourishes on the meals they were making.

Alice just leaned against the counter, her eyes following Jasper as he went to take a seat at the table, the man smiling at her periodically though he continued to engage in conversations with those surrounding him. Alice had him completely wrapped around her little finger and they had just met. She knew it, and she knew he did, and she just knew that everything was going to work out flawlessly for the two of them. There was no reason that it shouldn't or wouldn't. They were perfect for each other.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Rose marched back into the kitchen, declaring that everyone had managed to take their seats and now was a good time to bring out all the food for the hungry guests to eat. Smiling a bit, the four of them brought out the food with a flourish, placing the meals in front of the many important guests that Emmett had hoped to impress. As they began eating, Emmett's smile grew wider and wider while he spoke to various people.

From what the "staff" could tell, this whole dinner party was quite the hit, and Emmett was certainly reaping the benefits. "Well," Bella said, looking at Edward and her friends, "This has gone well so far, let's just hope that the desert is as good as the rest of the meal," she said, smiling a little bit as she looked over at the dining table, seeing that some of them were beginning to finish up the meal.

Once all of them were finished eating, they took the plates and brought out the final part of the meal, a rather delicious looking red velvet cake and placing a piece in front of every one of the attendants. Moving back to the kitchen the four began to eat their own food as their duties for the night were finished, no matter what Emmett thought. If he asked nicely, they might do one or two more things, though the guests were probably going to be leaving a little bit after the meal was finished.

As they amused themselves and waited for all of Emmett's co-workers to leave, Emmett was schmoozing like the best of them, and it seemed to be going rather well for him, something that had certainly not be gaurenteed when they had walked into this room. Jasper was the last of the guests to leave, complimenting Emmett on a well done dinner party before he got distracted by Alice, the two of them exchanging soft words by the door, their conversation ending in a kiss on Alice's lips, which had the woman glowing as Jasper left the apartment building. Closing the door behind him, Alice let out a blissful sigh before moving over to the island in the kitchen and taking a seat there.

"Isn't he just so wonderful?" she mused, a fools grin on her face as her mind obviously floated to thoughts revolving around Jasper, something that Bella found rather amusing.

"So, when's the date?" Emmett asked.

"The date for what?" Alice responded, looking over at Emmett.

"The date for the wedding, of course. It seems like you two love birds hit it off so well that I am sure the wedding won't be far behind," he said seriously before his face broke into a grin, earning a slap on the back of the head from Alice.

"Maybe we are meant for each other, but a wedding is not going to be happening that quickly, dumb ass," Alice said, glaring at the man.

Bella couldn't help but laugh at the situation, leaning against Edward as she looked at her friends, feeling particularly exhausted and mostly just wishing she could find her way to her bedroom and fall into a deep and blissful sleep, all curled up in Edward's protective arms. That sounded nice.

"As much as I love you guys, I am feeling kinda exhausted, so I think I am going to be stealing Edward and going to bed at my place," she said to them with a bit of a yawn, " And Emmett, don't even think of asking us to help clean up. Maybe Alice and Rose will volunteer, but I am not. I have a lot of painting to work on. So have fun cleaning up after the party," she said, smiling a little bit before taking Edward's hand and leading him to the door. The two of them promptly made their way home, stripping down to underwear and falling directly into sleep once they hit the mattress, or at least that was what Bella did.

Alice left after Bella and Edward did, bidding Rose and Emmett a good night, with a wink thrown in there, before slipping out into the hallway, her mind buzzing with thoughts of Jasper and when they would be meeting next. Maybe things were moving rather quickly, but she couldn't help it. They were meant for each other and she knew it and he did, too. So she had no worries about where they were headed, and she already knew the ultimate destination. That night, Alice dreamed of all the wonderful things that would happen between herself and Jasper in the future, all of them good.

Rose, though, didn't leave.

* * *

><p><strong>Leave me a little sugar and I'll type like the wind! Also, if there is anything that you would like to see happen in the story, let me know that too. You never know, I might think the idea is awesome, give you credit for it, and write it into my story. :) Who knows? <strong>


	24. Chapter Twenty Three

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update, I fully intended to do more quickly, but then I had to work a lot, and had to do family stuff, and I just managed have enough time to fully write out the next chapter. And so, since I finished it today, I am posting it today. Well, I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>Bella stirred in her sleep at the feeling of someone's hand drawing light circles on her shoulder, and so she pretended to continue sleeping, keeping her breathing deeper than it would be if she was waking. She felt a gentle kiss on her shoulder, lips moving up her neck slowly as a hand lightly moved down her side and up again, making her lips turn up in a small smile before she felt lips pressed against her own and she couldn't help but grin into the kiss.<p>

A deep chuckle sounded as she opened her eyes, Edwards face just above hers as he smiled up at her in that sweet way that he did. "Good morning, beautiful," he said to her, kissing her lips again, just for good measure as she continued to smile up at him, stars almost in her eyes as she couldn't help but melt inside just a little bit.

"Mmm, same to you handsome," she said, streatching a little bit with her arms above her head and she felt Edward's lips pressed against the hollow in her collar bone before she relaxed and his lips found hers once again and she couldn't help but hum in happiness for a moment. "You seem to wake me up in the best ways, I am getting spoiled," she said seriously as she listed to Edward laugh.

"Well, I am happy to spoil you every second of every day," he said, resting in the bed next to her, "Not only are you my muse, but I am quite a bit in love with you. I don't think I will ever want to stop spoiling you," he said, kissing her forehead then as he stood and slipped from the covers, going to pull on slightly more clothing than he had worn to bed.

"Good, because I fully intend to enjoy that. And reciprocate when you let me," she said with a nice big smile on her face as Edward leaned down and kissed her.

"I like the sound of that. Now, I am going to make us bowls of cereal, and I would like to know if you would like that in bed, or at the dining room table," he said to her, a smile on his face as he asked her.

"What? No fabulously cooked breakfast?" she asked him, pretending to be shocked, "I suppose cereal will be fine. But it definitely needs to be eaten in bed," she said to him with a smile once again on her lips before she cuddled under the covers to keep warm. Her little studio apartment always seem to get colder than she would like it to be, not that she minded, she just wished it would be a little bit easier to stay warm sometimes.

Edward only took a few minutes to get the cereal together and bring it to the bed, handing Bella her's before sitting down next to her, careful not to spill before he began eating, smiling all the while. "I hope you are enjoying this breakfast in bed, because it is going to be a rare occurrence, it's not every day I will make you something you can eat in bed like this," he said, pretending to be serious.

Bella just laughed lightly at him and shook her head a little bit before she finished eating, kissing Edward's cheek. "Good to know, but I have to shower and go meet Rose for coffee. I know she had something she wanted to talk about. I would suggest using today to work on that lovely novel you are writing, my little famous author, because I think I would like to be the first person to read it and give you feedback," she said to him, grinning as she went to the kitchen to put away her bowl before returning to the "bedroom" to get her clothing for after she shower. She couldn't help but shiver a little in the chilly air of the loft as she walked over to the bathroom door, ready to get under the hot water that would surely make her feel all the world better.

Then she heard Edward clear his throat quickly. "What do you think about moving? I mean, after you have made up your mind about me for certain? I would like to get a place that had better heating and a couple more rooms, we could even make sure you had a big area for your studio to work on things, and another place to put everything. I mean, you don't have to say anything now, of course, but … Think about it. I would love to do that," he said to her with a smile as he watched her turn towards him at the door to the bathroom, a small smile ghosting slowly across her lips.

"I will keep that in mind," Bella said before she disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for her meeting with Rose that was sure to be interesting, after all this was going to be telling her all about this crush that she had that also was crushing on her, but neither of them had made a move, which was certainly something that Bella found odd as Rose was never the one to take her time when deliberating as to whether or not to ask someone out.

Walking out of the bathroom completely ready for the day, Bella walked over to Edward who was already furiously typing at his computer making her smile a little bit before letting out a gentle breath and approaching him. Bella quickly placed a soft kiss against his cheek with a smile before leaning in to whisper in his ear, a grin on her face, "See you later, love you," she said, kissing him behind the ear quickly before starting to walk towards the door to leave.

All of a sudden she felt arms around her waist and a man picking her up off of the ground before she couldn't help but laugh a little bit before she grinned, feeling his lips behind her ear before he threw her in the air slightly and turned her so she was facing him, and his lips pressed against hers with a passion as her legs wrapped quickly around his waist, keeping her close to his body as he kept her lips together until they had to break apart to begin breathing.

"I love you more," he said to her with a grin, smiling back at him. Bella wasn't sure if this was the first time she had said it out loud to him, because maybe it had really slipped out before, but, she was loving this sort of reaction from him, it was the perfect way to feel about their connected lips, her body feeling chills as he held her so close.

"Mmm, for some reason I feel like I believe that," Bella said, a playful tone in her voice, "But maybe someday it will be debatable, not just yet. Now, I need you to let me get down so I can go and get some very important information regarding a boy," she informed him.

"Fine, I will let you go for now, but I have some important things I want to take care of with you," he said, smiling a little bit, "Hurry home," he said, kissing her temple before loosening his arms and letting her get down.

"Will do, especially if you act like this when I say those words to you, we'll see how you react to this tonight," Bella said as she smiled and walked to the door, opening it and leaving to head to the coffee shop that she was meeting Rose at, a smile still on her face as she made her way there.

Walking in, she saw Rose sitting there and fiddling with her coffee cup that she was drinking quite slowly. Looking at her phone and catching the time, she immediately felt just a little bit bad about the situation at hand. Quickly grabbing her drink, she went to sit down with Rose at the table that she had chosen to sit with her. "Hey, sorry I was a little late," she said, smiling sheepishly, "I was kinda caught up with Edward this morning. He was reluctant to let me leave," she said smiling a little bit as she thought about their morning and how wonderful it had been between the two of them.

Rose was fiddling with her coffee still, taking a small drink before she looked up at Bella, still looking a little bit nervous about the conversation they were about to have, and she certainly couldn't fathom why. Rose was almost always the person that was incredibly strong willed and hardly thrown by a conversation about a person that she was crushing on, or in a serious issue of liking them and not being able to talk to them. In fact, she had never seen Rose have relationship problems short of wanting to get out of one that had turned sour.

"Okay, Bella, before I talk to you about this, I want you to keep an open mind, alright? And remember that I am one of your best friends and that I would never do anything that I didn't think was a good idea," she said, biting her lip a bit as she looked down at her coffee.

Bella took a drink of her coffee and looked up at Rose with her forehead drawn together before she spoke. "You know I love you and I don't judge like other people judge, you know it. So, relax. I'm not going to be upset with you about anything, I know you know that," she said, "So why so nervous? I mean, you know me and all, what would I get upset about when it comes to one of your relationships," she said, frowning a little bit.

"Okay, well, this guy that I am interested in is pretty much … the most perfect person that I have ever met. He's everything I want in a man and he seems to want everything that I am, even the bad parts of me. And since he has moved back into town recently, things are finally a possibility for actually starting and everything …," Rose trailed off, taking a deep breath as she took a sip of her coffee and looked down at her hands, seemingly preparing herself for what she was about to say, and Bella honestly had no idea why she was worried about it.

"Rose … I am sure that everything is fine with this guy, whoever he is. He sounds great, and I am happy for you but … why are you so worried about telling me? When has there been anything that we couldn't talk about together?" she asked Rose honestly concerned.

"Honestly? Because this man is, well … It's Emmett," she said, biting her lip a little bit as she searched Bella's face for some sort of reaction to what she had just told her, and Bella's jaw dropped, she was a little bit thrown by this addmition but then she thought back to how the two of them had interacted over time, how they seemed almost … perfect for each other.

"Rose, why didn't you feel like you could tell me?" Bella asked, a little bit concerned.

"Because I was afraid that you weren't going to be alright with me and your brother being together. I know it is a little weird, me getting along with your brother like that, and the possibility of a real relationship. I can see myself with him forever, Bella. And I have only ever been around him when we were just hanging out as nothing but friends," Rose said, taking a deep breath. This situation was something that she had been dreading in a long time. Even though Bella seemed to be taking it rather well, she had no idea if she was going to ultimately be alright with the situation.

Bella just shook her head and took a sip of her coffee, thinking for a long moment before she looked up at Rose. "I am not going to say that this doesn't feel at all strange to me or anything but … I think I am okay with this. Like, seriously alright with it all. I mean, you two are a really good match when you think about it, it is just strange to think of my brother and my best friend to be dating. I am not saying that I am not okay with this, I am just saying that it might take awhile for me to fully get used to the idea," she said, looking at Rose for a moment, wanting to be sure that she understood her correctly.

Rose smiled, though, at Bella and nodded her head. "Oh, I promise that I won't be one of those people that have issues with keeping the PDA to a minimum. I mean, we'll see how Emmett reacts to that, but I am sure that it will work out fine. Also, I swear not to tell you anything about the closer part of the relationship out of respect for the weirdness about knowing anything about your brothers sex life. I will leave it to Alice to pass such things on, though I will be telling you about the first kiss, first time, and other firsts that may happen as I will want to share at least that much," Rose said to Bella, being honest.

She couldn't help but laugh a little bit at Rose's statement and shake her head. "Alright, but I do not want to hear any details, I know Alice will, but I get to leave the room at that point in time and no longer participate in the conversation," she said to Rose with a smile.

"Also, I will expect you to remind Emmett to no longer comment to me on the nights that he get's laid, and just how 'crazy' or 'flexible' the woman he was with was. Because I know he loves to drop comments like that and then ask me if I've gotten any lately," she said, shaking her head, "I know he is just messing with me most of the time, but I would rather not have to have those awkward conversations with him about, well, all the things I do not want to know about my brother," she said to her with a brilliant smile.

"Phew, I feel quite relieved," Rose said, seeming to have relaxed a hell of a lot after their conversation was over.

"I am glad, I would hate for you to be worried about something that I think is going to be good for you and Emmett. He doesn't realize it, but he seriously needs a good, strong, woman in his life that will not be afraid to whip him into shape when he is stepping out of line, because he likes to do that upon occasion and so far I have been the only one to snap him back into place," she said to Rose, "Now I have back up," she said, laughing a bit.

"So, are you going to tell him we've had this conversation? Or make him have it with me so he can feel incredibly uncomfortable with telling me about what you two have and that he really wants to pursue it but wants to be sure that his baby sis is alright with the situation?" Bella asked her.

Rose laughed a little bit at Bella's question and shook her head, "I'll decide when I finally ask him out. As I have been dying to do for ages. Seriously, Bella, thank you for being okay with this. I value your friendship too much to risk it by going after your brother before talking to you about it. Let's be real, if you weren't okay with it completely I still would be going for it, but I would have at least warned you first," Rose said with a slight nod, feeling like it was important to let Bella know where she stood on all of that.

"Alright, though I do think it will be rather entertaining if you do make him do it. I would like to see how he starts that conversation, and I promise I wouldn't make it last too long unless I was having too much fun torturing him," Bella said with a shrug.

"Excellent. Now! Let us talk about your sexy hubby waiting for you at home," she said, wiggling her eyebrows at Bella in a teasing manner.

"Yes? What about my sexy hubby?" she asked, still not used to the idea of thinking of Edward as her husband. Of course, he was more of someone that she was in love with and was getting serious about, but not someone that she was ready to stay married to for the rest of her life, though she had to admit, he was pretty amazing and she could see herself being soon ready to be committed him for the rest of her existence.

"Well, what did he do that got you so distracted this morning?" Rose asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively once again, "Any more morning … fun times?" she asked.

"No, no more morning fun times, though he did give me a pretty spectacular kiss and a promise of future ventures," she said to Rose with a bit of a smile on her face, just thinking about what was going to be waiting for her when she finally ended up returning home.

"Oh, I see. So something rather fun is going to be waiting for you when you get back, hmmm," Rose said smiling a little.

Bella just grinned, "Of course, I am going to have to work in my studio for a cuple of hours before I can go and have any shenanigans with Edward since I have a lot of work that I seriously need to do some hard core work with. I am rather excited about my pieces and I will have to show you them sometime soon but … I have something else I want to talk to you about, and Alice later, but I need to talk about it with somebody," Bella said, taking a bit of a breath before sipping at her coffee once again.

"This morning, Edward suggested that when I was ready, we should consider buying a new place," Bella said, "Edward is, well, loaded because of his occupation and it would be easy for him to afford a larger place that they could own. One with a studio in it, and a sort of gallery, and I really like the sound of it but at the same time I am mildly terrified about the thought," she said, biting her lip, "What do you make of all of that?" Bella asked Rose, wondering what the woman was going to say about it all.

Rose was silent for a couple of minutes as she seemed to be thinking about something, mulling a thought over a little bit as she contemplated, then she finally spoke. "If you are falling in love with him, and you can see yourself continuing to fall in love with him, I would tell you to go for it, I don't see why you shouldn't. He is an amazing man and I know that he loves you, you can just see it in the way he looks at you on a regular day. I mean, he even looks like he's head over heals for you when he's standing next to you. It is almost obnoxious," Rose said to Bella with a smile on her face.

"Well … what do you think about the whole moving thing? Edward can do his work anywhere he wants to, so that at least means I can stay in this area if I want to, which I do. But … is letting him be the one that supports us in a new house where we would have to furnish several rooms in the house because I have so little things to move, well, I don't know if I like that thought all that much," Bella said, "But I really, really like the idea of having a new place with Edward that actually had more than a couple of rooms available for working spaces," she told Rose.

"Alright … Well, I would say go for it. But wait a little while until you are positive that you are always going to want him around you," she said seriously.

"I feel like that is very good advice," she said with a smile.

"Now that we have talked about ourselves with one another, I think it is time to gossip about how Alice and Jasper are acting around each other, because I find it rather entertaining the way they seem to be so crazy about each other, it is quite … different. Especially because neither of them knew the other before they actually meant face to face," Rose said to Bella.

"Oh, how I do agree with you," she said with a bright grin.

For the rest of their coffee outing, they talked about whatever came to mind, most of it some sort of gossip about things that were going on in the world around them, nothing truly substantial anymore. But when both of them were done with their coffee's, they parted ways and Bella headed back to her home, ready to get to painting.

The second she walked through the door she was stopped in her tracks by the kisses of her husband, Edward. She couldn't help but laugh as she pulled back a little bit. "I take it this is some left over from when I left?" she asked him.

"Why yes, in fact, it is," Edward informed her as he allowed Bella to take off her shoes and things and actually enter the house more than she had before.

"Well, I think you are going to have to save the rest because I need to do some more work on my paintings, alright? I love you now, but I really do need to get some serious work done, just like I am sure you would like to get some of your serious work done, and I don't blame you, being an author must be a lot more work than people believe it to be, yes?" she said as she looked over him.

"Oh, I suppose," he said moving over to the couch as she headed to her studio.

"Good, but definitely be ready to resume things. Oh, and feel free to make the both of us something to eat for lunch. It's a little harder to cook when you are working on painting," she said to him, kissing him quickly before she walked into her studio and got to work.

* * *

><p><strong>The more pieces of sugar that I get, the sooner I will be able to pump out the next chapter! Sugar always help me get things done ... Also, once again, if there is anything you think ought to happen, let me know and if I incorporate it, I will be sure to give you special credit at the beginning of the chapter it is in. :D <strong>


	25. Chapter Twenty Four

**Hello to those that are still reading this story! I thank you for still enjoying it/wanting to read it! My life has been very crazy for a long time, and it will continue to be so, but I am going to try and finish up the story as soon as possible. I apologize for any errors in this, but I am not really going over it too closely before posting as I want to be able to finish this story/actually post things in a timely manner! The postings WILL be erratic, but I will attempt to get an average of one a week or more until the story has been finished! Thank you and I hope you enjoy the chapter. :)**

* * *

><p>Bella was already eager to get back to Edward, tired of the day, and though she was happy for Rose, she had a man waiting for her that she was becoming quite certain that she wanted to be with for the rest of her life. And she counted herself lucky for being able to have snagged this breathtaking man for herself, because he had wanted her for some odd reason and now she was blessed to have him. Smiling lightly as she opened the door to her apartment, she saw Edward sitting on the couch, his fingers flying across his keyboard.<p>

"Edward," she called as she made her way over to where he was sitting on the couch. "I have been thinking about what you said earlier," she said to him, sitting down next to him on the couch, seeing him stop typing, saving quickly as his eyes moved over to her, looking at her intently and expectantly.

"Yes?" he prompted, obviously eager to hear what she was going to say to him.

"Well, I have been thinking that if you ask really, really sweetly I will tell you I would be very happy to stay married to you and quite possibly move into a larger place after awhile. Not going to lie, moving out of this place will be hard, this is the first place I have ever had for myself," Bella informed him, seeing that lopsided and delicious grin move across his lips as he set his computer down on the coffee table before his lips were suddenly on hers, his kiss leaving her breathless.

"Then you can be sure I will be asking you really, really sweetly if you would like to stay married to me," he said to her softly before kissing her again, unable to help himself.

Smiling lightly as they separated, Bella ran her fingers through his hair lightly. "Good. I can't wait," she said to him with a smile, "Though I have a feeling you were figuring I would say that you could ask me really, really sweetly and I would say yes," Bella teased, knowing that Edward occasionally liked to flaunt the fact that he knew her very well and knew exactly how to drive her absolutely insane over him.

"Maybe, maybe not," Edward said to her with a little smile, "But for now, why don't I get started on some sort of lunch while you do whatever it is that you would like to be doing," Edward suggested.

Nodding, Bella smiled just a little bit. "I will be getting some painting done, then. I have this nice series I am working on that I think is going to end up going over really well," she said with a little bit of a smile as she kissed his lips lightly, not really wanting to move away from him at the moment.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Edward said as he kissed her once again, unable to keep himself from enjoying this sweet woman's lips. There was just too much about her that he absolutely adored for him not to want to press his lips to hers as often as he could possibly manage. Especially since he was fortunate enough to have a woman in his life that wanted to be with him, one that seemed to have finally been won over so that she would stay with him. Edward hadn't thought it would be possible in the amount of time he had already been with her, or at least possible to get her to not only tell him she was going to agree to stay married to him but to move out of this place. It was more than he could have ever dreampt of. The one woman he had ever truly wanted wanted him right back. His life couldn't have been any better at this point.

"Alright," Bella said, moving away from him even though she would have been quite content to just stay in place. "Get to cooking, Mister, I Have work of my own to get done," she informed him as she stood, grinning as she sashayed her way into the art studio she enjoyed being in so much. The only place she could arguably enjoy more than this studio was her place in Edward's arms. It was one of the few place she liked to be more than anything else.

Grinning to himself, Edward watched as Bella walked away from him, the bounce in her step making him warm. Rising, Edward made his way into the kitchen, already formulating the plans to ask Bella to stay married to him. It would be the true proposal for them, him doing that. He certainly wanted to sweep this woman off her feet, take her breath away, and certainly stun her with his actions.

As Bella moved around in the studio, she couldn't help but hum to herself with a little bit of a smile. Emmett had finally found someone, it seemed like Alice was making a connection with that Jasper guy, and she was finally finding that she could love Edward. Not that she wasn't already aware of her feelings, but just the fact that she was feeling ready to commit to him, to tell him that she was going to marry him. That was something she was thrilled about being able to do.

Turning to her canvas, she took a deep breath and began to do her work, knowing that Edward would come and get her when he was finished cooking for the two of them, until then she would let herself get lost in her paintings, enjoy herself as she did so. She always loved painting and she knew that with Edward she would always be able to pain and she wouldn't ever have to worry about having to stop and get a "real job."

Not to mention, she might even been recruited to do artwork for his books, which she was certain would be the most amazing thing in the world. Besides the fact she was loved by such an amazing man as Edward. How had she ever though telling him to leave her alone and get out of his life could be a good idea? She must have been insane. And so she continued to paint, her very good feelings flowing through the brush and onto the canvas.

Sooner than she realized, she was realizing that Edward was knocking on the door to her studio and there were delicious scents wafting from the direction of the kitchen. She had certainly gotten lucky with having a man that would cook for her like this and so so quite happily. Stretching lightly, she set her paints down and made her way out of the studio, heading to wash her hands before she sat down to eat the wonderful meal she was sure Edward had prepared for them.

"Mmm, this smells delicious," Bella informed him, smiling as she did so, glad that he was seemingly so happy now. She found that she liked it quite a bit when he was happy because of something she did or said. The way he smiled seemed to warm her heart no matter what sort of mood she had been in just moments before. Smiling lightly as she dried her hands she turned to Edward so she could plant a soft kiss on his lips. "Thank you for cooking, as always," she said to him with a smile.

"I am happy to," Edward assured her lightly as he grinned at that brilliant smile of hers. He certainly did love it when she smiled so brightly at him. "Come on, now, why don't we eat before it get's too cold, yes?" he suggested as he smiled at her lightly.

"You know, Bella," Edward said as they sat down at the table together, Bella certainly blown away by Edward's cooking once again and just how fortunate she was to have someone so willing to cook for her.

"Yes, Edward?" she questioned, looking over at him as he seemed to be stuck in his thoughts for the time being. She was sure he was just trying to figure out how he wanted to word something.

"I was thinking that if I am going to ask you very, very sweetly to stay married to me you ought to become acquainted with your inlaws. They are quite nice people, but I suppose it might make sense for you to meet them some time before you make your decision," Edward said, knowing that this could be a mistake. His parents could be a little bit overwhelming sometimes. They were lovely kind people, but that didn't mean they couldn't be incredibly overwhelming and hard to adjust to. Edward was just slightly worried that their personalities would scare Bella off, though he was sure his worries were unwarranted.

"Well, I do suppose meeting your parents makes sense," Bella said with a little bit of a smile, "I think that that is certainly a good idea. You just let me know when and I will be ready to meet them. As long as there is no art show that day I will be completely open, and I am certain even if I did have an art show they would just come and see my work, yes?" she said as she smiled over at Edward.

"You are quite right, love," Edward said with a little bit of a smile as he leaned over so he could kiss the corner of Bella's mouth, "I will call them after we are done eating, then, figure out when they can visit, or when we can go and visit them. Provided that you don't have to be doing anything," Edward amended.

"Of course. But I don't have anything planned for quite some time, so you shouldn't have to be too worried about figuring out when I will be able to meet them," she said to him simply as she smiled. "Especially if it is going to be sooner rather than later," Bella added as she smiled at Edward, just glad that Edward seemed always so concerned about making sure that she was happy and was alright with the things he was choosing to do.

"Good, good. That will make it much easier to figure out when we can all get together," Edward said to her with a little bit of a further smile. He couldn't help but keep the smile on his face. Everything was just heading in such a positive direction he couldn't even manage to get over the excitement of the future that was to come, he was certain that things would only get better with this woman. That they would end up being truly together.

"Excellent. I expect you to have it figured out before we go to bed tonight. Also, despite how much I love your cooking, I have decided that we ought to order Chinese food tonight, I seem to have a nice little craving for it as of late, if that is alright with you," she tacked on as she looked over at Edward as she continued to eat the wonderful meal he had prepared for the both of them.

Nodding a little bit, Edward smiled a little at her. "Of course," he said to her, "Of course we can order Chinese food, I could certainly go for some tonight," he told her as he finished eating, rising and pressing a soft kiss to Bella's forehead as he went to clean up the dishes in the sink. That was one of the things Bella loved about this man, he would always do his own dishes, or would even take hers. She couldn't be happier with who she had ended up with. Everything Edward did seemed to be absolutely wonderful and she constantly wondered how she had managed to become so lucky as to have him.

Once she had finished, she made her way over to the sink next to Edward, trying to squeeze in so she could wash her own dishes this time, which ended up breeding a little mini fight between the two of them for who would get to wash her dishes, of course Edward won through the strategy of distract her with such a delicious kiss as he was able to give her. She was certain that that was the way Edward planned on winning as many of their arguments as he could manage to win. Not that she really was upset about that fact, in fact she was glad that that would be his method.

Bella just knew she would have to figure out a means to keep herself from falling victim to him too easily and too quickly. Otherwise she would never stand a chance of getting her way with certain things. And so as Edward went back to his writing she went back to her painting, knowing that sometime between now and when they ordered Chinese a date would be set for her to meet Edward's parents and they would finally be in a place where she could comfortably say 'yes' to being his for the rest of her life, and she found that she was liking that thought more and more lately.

Losing track of time, Bella was only pulled out of her process of thinking by the knocking on her studio door from Edward, declaring that she was supposed to open the door and come out since he was getting hungry and wanted to order Chinese food for the two of them. Laughing lightly at his eagerness and the repeated knocking, she cleaned her things up, taking her sweet time and not responding to Edward, certain she was driving him a little bit crazy.

Once she had finished cleaning, she stepped out of her studio to press a soft kiss on Edward's lips. "Alright, now we can order Chinese food," she said to him with a grin, "I want sesame chicken and cream cheese wantons at the very least, anything else we get can be up to you, I will eat pretty much any kind of Chinese food you could possibly imagine getting for us to enjoy.

Chuckling, Edward nodded a little bit at her. "Alright, my love, I will go and take care of that for us now," he said, pressing his lips against hers lightly before going to grab the phone and order from the closest Chinese place that she had kept the menu for, just in case she got a craving for it now and again. Settling down on the couch, she waited for Edward to finish so she could ask him when his parents were going to be visiting them. That would do a lot to determine when she would be able to confirm her decision to stay with this man and truly being a life with something, a thought that she had never thought she would be one to entertain.

"So, now that we have ordered our Chinese food, will you tell me when I am meeting my inlaws?" she asked Edward with a little bit of a smile, waiting for him to come and join her on the couch, which didn't take long at all. Smiling lightly, she was happy to have him stay with her. Honestly, she couldn't get enough of this man. Whatever was she thinking when she had tried to kick him out of this place? He was hardly anything like anyone else she had enjoyed the company of in her life time. Or had even thought about being able to have in her life.

"Well, they said they could come and visit next week. I told them you are a very hard working artist and so leaving and going places is very challenging as it is hard for you to bring your paintings with, especially as you are working on some very important project at this moment in time, and they certainly wouldn't want to be a reason as to why you were not able to work on your paintings when you needed to," Edward informed her as he pulled her into his arms so she was resting against his chest in this position.

"Alright, that sounds good to me," she said with a little bit of a nod. "So, is there anything I ought to know about your parents before I meet them? Anything that I ought to be prepared for seeing that might not be absolutely normal? I know my dad is quite the interesting fellow, as I am sure you have figured out," she said to him with a little bit of a smile, hearing his light chuckle.

"Well, they tend to be a bit overbearing. My mother was always bothering me about settling down with some nice girl. So she will certainly be grilling you about what you think of me, how we met, and all other manner of things. You can tell her how we actually met if you would like, and if you would not like to share that with her, you can make something up," Edward informed her, knowing that Bella might be a little bit thrown by the way his mother reacted to getting to meet her for the first time.

Smiling a little bit, Bella nodded. "Well, I think I can say that you and I met in Vegas and we just hit it off, and the next thing I knew you were making all these grand romantic gestures for me and I just couldn't resist letting you into my house and everything," she said to him with a bright smile. Of course, she wasn't going to tell the full story of how she woke up and got to see him for the very first time. She figured that wouldn't necessarily be the best story to tell the mother of the man you were planning on staying married to.

"Well, I am glad you will be telling the real story, to some degree," Edward said with a little smile, "I would hate to try and explain why all of our friends seem to have a different story as to how you and I managed to meet one another," he teased with a light chuckle.

"That could certainly be quite the problematic happening," she said with a little bit of a smile and a laugh. "Of course, by just modifying the truth to something less embarrassing for me I figure that we will manage to keep everything from spinning wildly out of control," she informed him simply, sighing happily at the feeling of his fingertips running lightly over the skin of her arm in a soothing way.

"Good, I am glad that you want to share the story," he said once again, just getting relaxed by Bella's presence next to him, the weight of her body comforting to him and he never wanted her to move from her position on top of him, it was a place he quite enjoyed having her. In fact, Edward was certain that the second she agreed to truly be his.

"Mmm, I love you, Edward," Bella said as she let her eyes close as she rested against him happily. If she wasn't hungry, she was certain she would be finding her way to sleep at this particular moment. "I am pretty sure I loved you from the beginning - even though I didn't know it. You know, not knowing might have something to do with the fact that I fell in love with you while we were completely drunk," she said with a bit of a smile.

Edward chuckled lightly and nodded a little bit. "I am sure as well. I don't think you would have agreed to marry me if you hadn't loved me to some degree. Talk about love at first drunken sight," Edward teased lightly as he smiled at the woman. "I think you and I are going to end up being very happy for a very long time," he said to her as he knew he was very much looking forward to that day.

"I think so, too. I can't see myself not being happy with you," Bella said to him with a little bit of a smile as she ran her fingertips along the soft skin of his arm, unable to stop smiling at this particular moment.

Edward just nodded a little bit. "I mean, I am sure we will have fights now and again, but I don't think that will be something that stops us from being perfectly happy with each other," he informed Bella simply. It would be unrealistic to think that the two of them would be able to coast through something as complicated as marriage without ever having disagreements, but he was sure that if they did have disagreements that they would be able to get through them in a way much better than many others could manage.

The next thing they knew the doorbell was ringing as an indicator that the Chinese food had arrived, and so Edward moved out from his position holding Bella comfortably to his chest and ended up making his way to get their dinner. Bella was certain she hadn't had such a wonderful night as this one in a very long time. It was good to get to be with Edward like this.

It wasn't often that you managed to find someone that you knew you would be happy with for the rest of your life, and she was sure she was the luckiest woman on the planet, especially because whatever had ended up working out in order to give them a happy relationship after getting married in Vegas ... it was something that was next to unheard of. Not to mention, soon she was going to be meeting Edward's parents, and that was certainly going to be an interesting experience, and she wasn't sure how that was going to go. Bella wasn't the best at going through big moments, and she certainly got very nervous about things such as that. Whatever it was that was going to happen, she was sure that Edward would make it easier on her.

Regardless, if Edward thought that his parents were going to love her, she supposed that she ought to listen to him. Still, it made things all the more real, meeting his parents for the first time in only a weeks time. That was going to be an interesting encounter.

When Edward came back with the food, she couldn't help but smile as her stomach was growling. "Took you long enough to go get our food," she teased as she smiled at the man lightly. "I mean, my stomach has been growling for way too long and you just took your sweet time getting back here, didn't you?" Bella teased him.

Edward just stuck his tongue out at Bella and she couldn't help but laugh lightly at his response. "Of course I did, I wanted you to be extra thankful for me going to end up getting our dinner," he teased her right back as he moved to sit next to her, setting the food down in front of her before going to get some utensils and plates for them to eat their food on.

"Mmm ...," Bella hummed lightly at the enjoyable scent of the food that was resting on the coffee table in front of her, just waiting to be enjoyed by the both of them.

"See? I think my strategy was working!" he teased her as he moved to sit down next to her, giving her a plate and some utensils before he opened up the little boxes of food, leaning over to kiss her.

"Love you, Bella," he said with a little bit of a smile.

"I love you, too," she responded with a smile of her own before they began to enjoy their dinners. Next week, she would be meeting his parents, and that was going to be quite the big deal.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading! I hope this was alright and I swear I will post again within a week. :) If you leave a little review ... My motivational level will spike! :D And then I will certainly get another chapter out sooner than in a week. <strong>


	26. Chapter Twenty Five

**Procrastination = Posting a Chapter. It seems that my avoidance of physics homework is quite the effective way to get me to finish writing a second chapter within 24 hours of the other. Go figure. Hope you enjoy!**

* * *

><p>It had been a week since Edward had spoken to his parents about coming to meet them. Coming so she could get to know who they were, understand what sort of family she was becoming a part of. Edward already knew about her overprotective father who seemed to finally have decided that Edward was good enough for her, and she was sure she couldn't have been happier at this moment in time. Smiling a little bit at the man as he sat, typing furiously, she couldn't help but feel the nerves building in the pit of her stomach. Logically she knew she had nothing to be worried about, but she certainly couldn't keep herself from being concerned about what her parents were going to think about her.<p>

Lately, it seemed that Edward had been hit by an incredible burst of inspiration, and Bella wasn't sure exactly what the source was. Maybe he had some really great ideas coming to him, or maybe his excitement of the prospect of finally being able to stake a more permanent claim on her was getting the best of him, which she certainly didn't mind witnessing. Of course, he was quite the beautiful man and she was quite lucky to have him in her life. Whatever had she done in order to deserve him? Especially since all she had done for a good period of time was fight against letting him stay in her life.

"Love, what is bothering you?" Edward asked her after a moment, Bella having been spacing out, lost in her thoughts and worries of what was going to take place when she finally met his family.

"Nothing," Bella said, dismissing his concern, even though she really wished to gush to him that she was terrified that his parents weren't going to like him, that they weren't going to think she was good enough for their son.

"Are you worried about meeting my parents?" Edward asked her with a little bit of a frown. He seemed to be quite talented in the art of reading her concerns and worries, something she both loved and hated all at the same moment in time.

"Maybe just a little bit," she admitted to him, smiling a little sheepishly. She hated admitting when she was nervous about something, it was a type of emotion that she fought against terribly. She didn't enjoy feeling weak or worried. Maybe it was because she had been tough and on her own for such a significant amount of time that it was taking her even longer to adjust to being able to be taken care of by a lovely man that cared for her dearly.

"There's nothing for you to feel nervous about," Edward assured her as he gently rana hand along her arm, seemingly trying to soother her worries as she just leaned her head on his shoulder for her own sense of comfort.

"You say that, but I don't really believe you," Bella mumbled to him, "You should let me be nervous about meeting your parents, you were allowed to be nervous to meet my dad," she told him simply.

Edward just chuckled lightly as he shook his head at her a little bit. "Do you know how I know my parents are going to love you?" Edward asked her as he continued to run his fingers lightly over her arm, soothing as best as he could manage to do.

"No ... how do you think they are going to like me?" she asked him softly, looking up at him with worried eyes. Maybe she didn't have any real reason to be worried about meeting his parents, but she had never had this experience. Jacob had never really taken her to meet his family, saying that they were all cruel and wouldn't like her in the least so it was best just to avoid them. She realized now that was because he was worried they would notice the bruises that seemed to flower across her skin now and again.

"I know that they are going to love you, not just like you, because I love you. My parents want me to be happy, and by extension you. So I highly doubt they will have anything but favorable feelings towards you, my love," Edward assured her, continuing to smile lightly at the woman, only wanting to make her feel more comfortable with the situation at hand. ANything he could do to soothe her worries he would attempt.

Bella just smiled a little bit, looking up at Edward and pressing her lips against his softly, unable to help herself. "You are too sweet, but what if that isn't enough?" she asked him quietly, certainly concerned about far too many aspects of what the future may or may not hold for her and Edward.

"Well, it better be. Otherwise they are complete fools. I know my mother will love you right from the start, but I am sure my father will be wary as to why you are with me. Because you really love me or because you want to have a hefty amount of money that just happens to sit in my bank account that I am quite happy to share with you," Edward informed her as she smiled a little bit at him.

"It's a good thing I'm not in it for the money, then," she said to him with a little laugh, "And it is definitely a good thing that I really do love you, too," she said as she smiled, pressing her lips against his again before resting her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes lightly, already feeling exhausted only though the day was still young. They were having dinner with Edward's parents tonight, which was making her worry to this degree. No matter the kind things Edward seemed to say she couldn't shake her worry over what the parents were going to be thinking of her.

"Bella, stop worrying, everything is going to turn out wonderfully, you just need to relax and trust me that they will absolutely adore you," Edward said with a little smile as he kissed her lightly. "Now, try and relax until its time for us to go meet them for dinner," Edward encouraged, hoping that Bella would be able to keep herself from getting worked up far more than she already was.

"Easy for you to say," she mumbled to him before moving away from his side and going to pick out something to watch on as it would at least keep her attention for a good deal of time, thinking about anything other than having to meet Edward's parents was going to be a very good idea.

Time seemed to pass with a far greater speed than Bella might have liked, as she felt she ought to mentally prepare for getting to meet Edward's parents. It was such a momentous occasion that she was sure she was going to manage to do something wrong and the whole ordeal was going to end in disaster. She had a bad habit of letting some of her clumsiness get in the way of a good time, or a good impression.

"Bella, calm down," Edward told her, smiling at her with a bemused expression as they sat in the car together, making their way to the restaurant they were meeting his parents at, he figured that getting to meet them in some sort of public place would help sooth Bella's nerves. His parents were always polite people even if they seemed to dislike someone - especially in public. So he figured this would keep either one of them from making distasteful comments while they were all out together.

"I think I will calm down after I have seen whether or not they like me. Once they have made their decision on what they think of me I will be able to relax. Because then its a done deal regardless of what I try and do to change it or improve their opinion," Bella informed him as she nodded lightly.

"Well, you should calm down and stop worrying now, silly woman, they are already thrilled to meet you because they are sure you are an amazing woman because you make me so incredibly happy day after day," Edward encouraged her, trying to set her nerves at ease as he had been for the duration of the day.

Huffing, Bella just crossed her arms in front of her as she waited for them to arrive, which only took a short few minutes before they arrived and she was stepping out of the car, her fingers linked with Edward's as they approached the entrance of the establishment, and she just knew his parents were waiting inside in order to judge her in that way people do, quickly and sweepingly.

But since Edward was such a wonderful person, it would stand to reason that his parents would be wonderful people, right? Because good parents tend to raise good children? Maybe? Or he could have turned out so wonderful in spite of having bad parents ... that could be a possibility, too.

Leaning down to speak to Bella, Edward whispered into her ear. "Remember, they will want to be called by their first names, or 'mom' and 'dad'. But my mothers name is Esme and my father is named Carlisle. Just to help you remember," Edward assured her. Approaching the hostess, Edward relayed their party name and they were led to the table where Edward's parents were already sitting.

Bella felt a little uncomfortable then, too. She had hoped they would get there before his parents in order to impress them with their punctuality, but this only made her worry about this impression. Granted, it was Edward that had taken too much time to get ready in order to leave and bring them here. Maybe he had just taken his own sweet time to bug her, she wouldn't put it past this man.

"You must be Bella," the woman she supposed must be Esme said as she rose and went to shake Bella's hand, the warm smile on her kind face making her relax a little bit. Maybe she really had been silly worrying about what his parents were going to think of her.

"And you must be Esme, I have only heard wonderful things about the both of you from your son," she said, smiling over at Edward as she spoke the truth, not sure what else to say as she met his parents. She wasn't good with this sort of interaction, she wasn't good at figuring out the right thing to say.

"Well, I certainly hope so," Carlisle said as he rose to shake her hand with a light smile on his face. He seemed kind enough, and she hoped that first impression was correct.

Edward just rolled his eyes at his parents as he took a seat, the others following suit. "Of course I only said good things, I didn't want to frighten her off with all the tales of your very interesting stories," he teased his parents as he saw Esme roll her eyes a little bit at her son. At least it seemed like they had a good relationship.

"My curiosity has been piqued. Maybe someday Edward will slip up and share," Bella said, smiling over at him, her hand slipping into his out of reflex, she couldn't help herself, she felt calmed when his skin was in contact with hers. It was completely unlike the panic she had felt building up inside of her the first few times he had gotten close to her.

"One day I am sure you will hear all about Edward's traumatizing childhood stories. All families have to have some good ones otherwise they are not really a good family, don't you think?" Esme said with a light smile.

"I do suppose so," Bella responded with a little smile. Good, they did really seem like kind people. She knew she really had just talked up the intensity of this moment in time, it was hardly a gigantic moment, or something that deserved to be worried over to the degree she had been as of late.

"Esme, don't give this girl a bad impression. We hardly want to come across poorly if this really is the girl Edward wants to stay married to," Carlisle said to Bella, making the woman just roll her eyes at the man's comment.

"Oh, hush Carlisle," Esme said with a little roll of her eyes, "We are not that bad. Besides, we don't want to give her the wrong impression. We are people that aren't exactly the average sort of parents, are we? So why should we pretend to be that way?" she posed as she looked over at her husband with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh, alright, dear," Carlisle said as he chuckled a little bit, just taking in the bewildered look on Bella's face. She had been so worried about making a good impression on these people that it hadn't even occurred to her that they might be equally nervous about getting to meet her for the first time as well. After all, who knew how many women Edward had decided to introduce to his parents. For all she knew she was an extreme exception to the rule. Not to mention the fact that he had married her.

Esme just smiled a little bit before directing her attention more to Bella. "He forgets sometimes that just being honest about the sort of happy interesting family we are is better than just pretending like we are the more normal sort of parents that don't mortify their children," she informed her.

"Well, not to worry. Every boyfriend I had throughout high school was greeted with a gun to their face when I had them over to my house. My father was a bit overprotective," she said with a little bit of a smile, earning a light laugh from Edward's mother.

"I think I would very much like to meet your father, then. He seems like he would be quite the charming man, besides, if you are to be our daughter in law it is essential that we meet the rest of our new family!"Esme exclaimed as she smiled across at Bella and Edward.

Soon they had ordered their food for the meal and the conversation was flowing naturally and as easily as if they had all known each other for their entire lives, and it certainly seemed that the stories Esme was telling her about Edward's childhood were some of the best things she had ever learned about him. He had apparently been quite the strange little boy, and she loved hearing the stories about how he was the first kid in his class to learn how to write and he had a bad habit of turning any essay into a creative writing exercise. Apparently half of the time it was a very good thing for him and the other half of the time it did nothing but hurt his grade.

"No … he didn't!" Bella exclaimed, shocked by one of Esme's stories, laughing as the woman nodded her head vigorously.

"Yes, yes he did! The teacher was so surprised. This young little fourth grader was correcting her spelling on their spelling test! I remember her calling me in to talk about Edward's attitude problem, and so showing me what he corrected the spelling of a word to and then I … this was the best part … I told her that his spelling was correct and hers was wrong. I couldn't believe how embarrassed the woman, and Edward just looked so proud of himself, no idea of what he had really just done," Esme said as she laughed lightly, Bella laughing along with her.

"Why, Edward, I never knew you were such a smart ass!" she exclaimed as she looked over at Edward with a smile on her face. She was so thankful that she got along so well with his parents. It could have been quite disappointing if she hadn't. As it stood, it seemed that she was going to fit in rather well with his family, and it only made her more certain of her decision to stay married to this man she had fallen so easily in love with. She could see herself being very happy with this man, and that was what surprised her most of all, that she could actually visualize how it would be to feel truly happy with him.

"I am so glad to hear that he has always been a know it all, I thought he was only like that with me," Bella said with a little bit of a smile.

"Oh, no, he's had a habit of telling people how they ought to do things for quite some time now," Esme assured her. Next to the two women it seemed like Edward and Carlisle were in a discussion of their own willingly ignoring everything the two women were talking about.

"Well, you will have to train him out of that, it is rather annoying of him to try and correct us all the time, if you could cure him of the bad habit I am sure everyone would be quite grateful," the woman said with a nod as she smiled at Bella lightly.

"I will certainly do my best to try and get him to stop being such a know it all," Bella said seriously as Esme smiled at her.

"You know, I think Edward couldn't have found someone more perfect for him. You are just what that boy needs, and as long as you two are happy together, I am certainly going to be happy for the both of you," esme informed Bella, making them both smile as Bella nodded lightly.

"I am glad you think so, I kept waiting to wake up from this dream and find that he hasn't really chosen me, but he's always there when I wake up. So as long as he doesn't end up running away from me, I think I will be quite the happy woman," Bella said to Esme with a little bit of a smile once again as she looked over at Edward who seemed to be trying to purposely ignore the two of them.

It was at that moment, though, that the bills were returned to the table and they were finally on their way out of the restaurant.

"Well, it was good to meet you, Bella. You are a lovely woman and Edward seems very much in love with you," Carlisle said to her as they rose from the table, gathering their things.

"Thank you," Bella said with a small smile, not sure what else she would have been able to say to him than that at this particular moment. She was still just a little bit overwhelmed over the fact that these people so readily accepted her into their family. It was a feeling that she was completely unused to.

"I hope you know that you are more than welcome to come to either of us for anything you might need, you are a part of the family now, don't hesitate," Esme said to her with a bit of a smile as she moved towards Bella to wrap her in a large hug.

"Of course, I will be sure to remember that, and take advantage of it when I can," Bella said with a little bit of a smile.

"Good! Now, remember to call when you know when your next art show is going to be," Esme encouraged as she looked at Bella with fondness in her eyes. It was obvious that the woman was incredibly happy that her son had found someone that made him happy, and that didn't seem to be after his money, something that was certainly a rarity in this world.

"I will be sure to do so," Bella promised.

"Good, now, you two have a good night and don't be strangers, alright? We will have to find another time when we can all get together, and with your father, too, Bella. Maybe the holiday's, we will see. I am sure we can come up with some sort of fun plans for all of us," Esme said.

"Of course, that would be wonderful," Bella agreed with a little bit of a nod until they had finished saying their goodbyes and headed to their respective cars.

Getting into the car with Edward, she let out a slow breath and then grinned over at him. "They liked me," Bella said to him, though she really was stating the obvious.

"What did I tell you? I told you there was nothing for you to be worried about," Edward teased her with a little smile before he leaned across the consol to give her a light kiss on the lips, a smile on his at the same time.

"You were wonderful," he informed her, "I don't know how they couldn't love you, and my father even took to you quickly. It wasn't a surprise at all that my mother jumped right into finding you to be the most wonderful person in the world for me," Edward teased lightly as he started the car and began to drive them back to their home. Bella was certainly ready to crash now. Even though she really hadn't needed to be worried about the whole ordeal and even though it went well, she was in desperate need of some rest.

"I'm glad you think so, I wasn't so sure," Bella said to him with a little bit of a smile as she let herself relax in her seat.

"I do have to say, I don't think they had any idea of how nervous you were, you hid it very well, love," Edward said to her with a bit of a smile, "Except for how hard you were gripping my hand. Other than that no one would be able to tell how nervous you were," Edward said to her as Bella just laughed lightly.

"I will have you know that is only because I have experience in pretending not to be nervous about something, it's a skill that is very useful when doing art shows," she pointed out as she saw Edward just smile and nod as he drove them.

It hardly took any time after that for the two of them to reach their home and pile out of the car, the two of them heading directly into their bedroom where they would be able to relax. Well, really the little section of the loft where her mattress was resting on the ground. The more she thought about it, the more willing she was to look into getting a home with this man. It wasn't like they were going to be strapped for money to buy a place, but that didn't mean she wasn't allowed to think about it quite a bit.

Bella had decided that she would at the very least insist on getting a place that wasn't too overwhelming in size. She wanted a place that was a comfortable size, not too big, not too small. Just the right size for the rooms they needed, and she wanted to get a place that wasn't too far from where she was right now. But she was sure Edward was going to be willing to help her find a place like that. Whatever they ended up doing together, they were going to certainly let it all work out like it was supposed to.

"You know, Edward, I think I would really like to have a room that was actually a bedroom, a place for actual sleeping to take place," Bella admitted as she was getting herself ready to go to sleep for that night. Looking over at the man, she could see the smile sneaking across his lips.

"Oh, really?" Edward responded, pretending not to know that she was really agreeing with him on getting a different place more so than just trying to avoid the topic of conversation.

"Yes, really. It would be nice to have it separate from the kitchen, sometimes it is quite annoying to be woken up by all the racket that gets made in the kitchen in the mornings. Sure, having breakfast in bed is absolutely wonderful and I certainly enjoy it, but being woken up long before the breakfast is actually brought to you makes it far less exciting," Bella informed Edward with a smile as she looked over at him, finally pulling on her pajamas as she went to lay down in her comfortably warm mattress.

"I see … I think that would be something I would be very happy with. Maybe there would even be a nice big bed on an actual bed frame there, too," Edward teased lightly, getting Bella to just roll her eyes at the man.

"Of course, an actual bed," she told him moving towards him as he got into the bed with her.

"Mmhmm," she said with a little bit of a nod. "It sounds like a really nice idea, doesn't it?" she told him as she closed her eyes, resting her head on Edward's chest as she curled against him a little bit, it felt quite wonderful to be close to him.

"I like the thought, but for now, I think I like the idea of getting some sleep more," Edward whispered to her, getting Bella to nod lightly.

"Yeah … I like that idea, too," she whispered to him, her eyes slipping closed as she fell into sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked the chapter alright! Do leave a review, please, it'll help give me more reasons to procrastinate. And as I said Procrastination = Posting a Chapter.<strong>


	27. Chapter Twenty Six

**Thank you to all those that have left me a review! It truly makes me smile whenever I receive one! I hope you enjoy this chapter - I certainly enjoyed writing it. **

* * *

><p>Bella slept incredibly soundly that night, a weight lifted off of her shoulders at the fact that Edward's family liked her, that they found her to be someone deserving of her son, which was a greater relief to her than she might have liked to admit out loud to anyone, but It was the truth. She didn't stir at all when Edward woke up and went to make breakfast for the both of them. It seemed that whoever woke first got the job of cooking breakfast, and it just so seemed that Edward was the one that did it the most frequently.<p>

Wiping sleep from the corners of her eyes, she couldn't help but let out a bit of a yawn, stretching lightly as she began to get herself to a more conscious state of being. Even though she had woken a decent time after Edward had begun to do his cooking for her, she could hardly convince herself to get out of bed at that very moment. It felt too good to be so content and comfortable in this warm setting. How could she manage to get herself up and leaving if it was just the perfect place to stay curled up, especially knowing that Edward was going to be bringing her breakfast any time soon.

"Is my sleeping beauty awake?" she heard someone ask, someone that seemed to quite obviously be Edward.

"Maybe," she responded, her voice still heavy with sleep as she stayed nicely tucked into her covers, warm at the moment, even though she knew she would be far happier if Edward would decide to join her in the comfortable warmth of her covers.

"Is she awake if I am bringing her food?" Edward asked her.

"She will be," Bella mumbled, her face still stuck in the pillow as an effort to stay comfortably warm and almost asleep.

"Well, then, you should wake up, sleeping beauty. Prince Charming has brought you your breakfast," he told her as he smiled a little bit at the woman's sleepy state. She was certainly an adorable thing when she was tired, and just waking up. Though he did suppose he found her adorable at any given point in time so his opinion may or may not be something that was entirely valid in this current situation.

"Okay," Bella said, rolling onto her back as she yawned, stretching before she sat up and smiled over at Edward. "You and your breakfast making," she said to him shaking her head, "You always seem to wake me up this way, be it actual breakfast or a bowl of cereal," she said to him as she smiled.

"As it seems you enjoy it when I do pamper you in this fashion, I intended to keep doing so," Edward told her as he leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers before he set a tray down on her lap as he grinned.

Bella just smiled over at him before tasting the food on the plate in front of her, sighing happily at the flavors in her mouth. This was quite the wonderful plate of food. "Mmm, as long as you keep cooking this way, I think I will always enjoy your breakfast food," Bella assured him as she heard him laugh, moving back to the kitchen as he grabbed food for himself before sitting down in the bed next to her as he smiled lightly.

"Well, I am quite glad you like my cooking, I would take lessons otherwise just to be sure I could manage to keep you nice and happy," Edward assured her, just making Bella roll her eyes and shake her head even though she couldn't help but smile at his comment, or maybe promise, whatever he would decide to call that statement.

"As long as you keep cooking this way, you won't ever need to take lessons, I quite enjoy the food you make the way it is right now," she assured him as she smiled lightly, just enjoying the flavors of the food that had been set down in front of her like this. How could she not be happy with it? This food looked absolutely delicious! And it tasted that way, too.

"Good, good," Edward said, smiling and nodding a little bit as he continued to eat his plate of breakfast as well, unable to keep the smile off of his own face. This was too good of a morning not to be smiling. Everything with meeting his parents had gone so well that he couldn't have been more thrilled at that moment. Of course, he was sure he would be truly thrilled when he put a real ring on this beautiful woman's finger, she deserved something more than the cheap bands they were given at the Vegas chapel.

"Thank you for breakfast, Edward," Bella told him, leaning over to kiss his cheek before she moved off of her bed and went to bring the dishes to the sink, stretching all the while. Now it was time for her to hop in that shower. "Edward, I'm going to take a shower. If you're quite enough I am sure there will be some extra room for you to join me," she informed him with a light smile, grabbing a towel out of her closet before making her way to the bathroom, ready to enjoy the feeling of warm, clean water moving over her skin. And quite possibly Edward's presence as well. But that would be up to him.

Turning on her hot water, she hummed as she stepped into the shower, the stream of deliciously warm water relaxing her shoulders lightly. As she stood in the shower, getting this time to herself, she couldn't help but wonder when Edward was going to make the nice big gesture of asking her to stay married to him, she was sure it was going to be a spectacular event and that it would be a happening she was sure to never forget, and right now she was just dying to know when he was planning on asking. And how.

It was another week before she noticed anything different about how Edward was acting. He seemed to leave the apartment for hours on end, neglecting to bring his computer with him. She knew sometimes he liked to do his writing in a coffee shop, but that wasn't possible when he didn't bring his computer. It made Bella wonder what it was that he was up to when he left.

She was guessing that he was going to figure out what ring he was going to buy her, and if he had figured it out already he was repeatedly checking to see when he would be able to get it. She wouldn't be surprised if he spent way too much money on her ring, which she would certainly be irritated at him for, but she wouldn't let herself complain about it. That would just be silly. Complaining about how this man gave her something so incredibly outstanding? No, she wouldn't do that. Especially as she knew he had plenty of money to spare, not that it mattered to her in the least.

"Of course, it made her constantly ponder when he was going to spring this on her, and how he was going to end up doing it. She was sure it would be a way that was completely breathtaking and utterly and completely unexpected of him. And in that way, she would be the happiest woman that had ever walked the earth. Already she could die a perfectly happy and satisfied person, and Edward just continued to do things that made her fall further in love with him, especially now after she had given up fighting him every step of the way. Especially after she had met his family and found them to be such a welcoming group of people and since her brother seemed to approve of this man. And even her father in his own way.

But now she was stuck waiting in a great deal of anticipation to find out when this man was going to propose to her. Or at least something of that sort. She was hoping, then, that if they ever decided they needed an actual ceremony they would do a renewal of their vows and what not. Today, Edward had been out for several hours and she was wondering when he was going to return home to her and what he would return home with.

Standing in her studio, she couldn't help but ponder as she painted, working hard on finishing her series about Edward, and it was going rather well. She was already on her final painting as, like Edward seemed to be, she was rather inspired as of late and eager to do her work. Besides, it kept her from obsessing over when this man was going to pop the question as much as she could manage.

Soon, she heard her door opening and someone calling her name, but it certainly was not Edward. Poking her head out of her studio door she smiled as she saw her brother, his voice just being disguised as he held a large bundle of balloons and some amount of flowers in his arms. Raising an eyebrow, she slipped back into her studio and cleaned what she could as quickly as she could manage before going to meet her brother as he was demanding, whining that she was taking too long to clean up her things.

"Let me guess, these are from Edward?" Bella questioned as she approached Emmett, the man grinning widely at her like he knew something she didn't, and she was certain he did. It looked to her like he was in on something that Edward was currently planning.. Or rather executing now. She wondered now what all was in store for her.

"You would be correct in thinking that," Emmett confirmed as he smiled at her in a knowing manner, almost teasing her about knowing something that she did not, that she had yet to understand. But she was sure this was the beginning of the way Edward would very sweetly ask her to marry her. Smiling lightly at Emmett she shook her head as she took a bit of a deep breath as she closed her eyes for a moment.

"Is there a card on the flowers?" Bella questioned, approaching her brother and taking them from him as she looked to find what it said. _Meet me in my favorite coffee shop._ The card read. Looking up at Emmett, she smiled.

"So, am I supposed to drive myself or are you supposed to be leading the way?" she asked him.

"I am to be your driver today, just in case you get lost. It would be very upsetting if you got lost," Emmett said seriously as he nodded, a smile spreading across his lips as he looked at his sister going over the card. It was clear to him that she understood what was going on, that that something was most likely the real proposal Edward would be making.

"I see, well then, driver, you best be leading onward, I would quite like to get to the coffee shop as quickly as possible," Bella said to her brother as she smiled widely and brightly. She just knew that today was going to be a very, very good day.

"Why yes, of course, dear lady," he said with a wide grin, "I think you ought to bring the flowers with you, just in case," Emmett stated as he smiled lightly before he walked to her door.

Grinning, Bella held the flowers in her arms as she walked to the door, grabbing her keys so she could lock it behind her before following Emmett out and to his car. She was certain she was bursting with the excitement of a school girl after getting asked out on a date for the very first time, but it was hardly something she could be blamed for, getting to be with this wonderful man was certainly something she was looking forward to. Spending the rest of her life with Edward was most certainly what she wanted.

"Emmett, you better not decide to take any 'short cuts' on our way to the coffee shop, if you get us lost or make us take too long to get there I do promise you I will be quite upset," Bella informed him seriously.

"I swear I will not take any detours on this trip to a coffee shop that is so important to you for some completely unknown reason," Emmett said, teasing Bella just a little bit, and in turn just earning a roll of her eyes at his comments. He had always loved to tease his sister.

"Oh, hush. You know very well what is going on – if you are in cahoots with Edward. So you must know why it is important for me to get there," Bella reasoned as she looked over at her brother.

"I may be in cahoots with him but that doesn't really mean much else. Maybe I take a nice long detour for a reason, you know, because he asked me to make sure it took a certain amount of time to bring you some place. I'm not saying that he did, but just for the sake of argument," Emmett told her as they pulled into the parking lot of the coffee shop that Edward seemed to love.

Walking inside with her brother, Bella looked about the place, wondering where Edward had gotten off to in this place. It was a small coffee shop, and so she reasoned that she should be able to see him if he was in this place, but apparently he was no where to be seen, so instead she just frowned, approaching the counter of the place and greeting the woman that was working the cash register there.

"Hi … I'm Bella swan, I am supposed to be meeting someone named Edward here, do you happen to know where he is?" she asked them, figuring that if anyone was going to know right off the top of their heads her it would be these people, and Emmett as well. But she wouldn't ask him until she had exhausted her other options. Edward was probably making her go on a wild goose chase.

"Well, he left about 30 minutes ago, but he did tell us that if a woman named Bella came in we were supposed to make her a very decadent drink and put it in a special cup. Is there anything in particular you would like?" the woman asked with a smile, apparently Edward had already paid for the drink she would be receiving from his favorite coffee shop.

"Anything you choose to make, just as long as I get that cup," she told the woman with a little smile. Maybe Edward had written a little message on the cup – she wouldn't be surprised if that was what he had chosen to do. Though she was wondering where he would be sending her after this, and even more than that she wondered how many different places she was going to have to go before she ended up reaching Edward.

It only took the barista a few minutes to make a decadent turtle mocha for her, smiling as she handed it over in the 'special cup' Edward had wanted them to give her the drink in.

"Thank you," Bella said, smiling at the woman who handed her the drink, immediately looking at the sides of the cup to see a message on the side. _Took you too long to get here so I had to move on … meet me in the park under the willow tree as soon as you can. _Grinning at the message, she just knew that this was going to turn out wonderful, even though Edward was making her run in circles. She was sure, though, when this was all over she would be truly happy about everything Edward had done. Certainly this man was making this situation out to be a wonderful story they would both enjoy telling their friends and others. Smiling to herself, she moved over to Emmett, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Alright, it seems we are going to be going to the park now, as I am sure you already knew," Bella said to Emmett with a little smile though the man just grinned at her.

"I don't know … maybe I had no clue that we were going to be going to the park, or maybe I had known it all along. Who knows," he said to her with a wide smile before chuckling lightly. "Drink that coffee up, hopefully you'll have it finished by the time we get to the park, it's a bit of a drive," he informed her as they walked out of the coffee shop together and got into the car, the two of them driving off towards where ever the park was that they were supposed to be meeting Edward in.

"How long is it supposed to take us to get there?" Bella asked Emmett, already getting impatient for him to bring her to the park so she could meet Edward under the willow tree he had mentioned after they had been driving for about 10 minutes.

"Oh, just another ten minutes and then we'll be there," Emmett informed Bella, seeing his sister roll her eyes and take another sip of the mocha she was still working on finishing from the coffee shop they had been sent to.

"Well, it seems to me that was the reason Edward decided to send us to a coffee shop first. We have to drive twenty minutes to reach our new destination and if I didn't have such a wonderful cup of coffee in my hands I would be quite irritable, whatever this surprise is I am getting tired of waiting for it," Bella said, smiling to herself.

"Oh, well, if its as good of a surprise as you are hoping for, I will have you know that waiting a few extra minutes is not going to end up killing you in the least. You will just have to wait it out for a little while. I promise that Edward's whole plan is going to be one you appreciate. I warned him, though, that you wouldn't like the travel time at all," Emmett said to her.

"Thank's for looking out for me, Em," she said to Emmett as she smiled a little bit, looking out the window. "Even though I do believe that Edward should have actually listened to what you were telling him," Bella tacked onto her statement as she looked out of the window of the car, sighing as they had to take such a long route to get to the park. At least she knew that the wait for all of this was certainly going to be well worth it.

The time passed by slowly as they reached the park, and in less than the ten more minutes Emmett had told her it would be. Smiling, Bella got out of the car then, eager to go and find the willow tree that Edward had mentioned on her coffee cup. Holding it in her hands still, she went to walk to where the tree was, it seemed that Edward had drawn a bit of a makeshift map on the side of the cup to help her figure out where to go to get to the tree.

It was kind of him to let her have a way to get there and not let her search through the park for way too long to figure out where she was supposed to be going. Taking a deep breath, she spotted the tree, unable to see if anyone was standing beneath it at this point in time, hopefully Edward would be there and not just another clue like she had this feeling it would be.

Stepping under the tree, Edward was nowhere to be found, but instead a little table was with a velvet box too long to belong to a ring and she just narrowed her eyes. Here he was, trying to give her more jewelry than she wanted. "Somewhere around here there has to be a note from him, huh?" she said to herself, and to Emmett who had just stepped up next to her, now that she had found that Edward wasn't waiting in this place for her, either.

"Maybe," Emmett said with a little grin as he watched Bella walk up to the little box that Edward had left sitting there. Opening it, her eyes went wide in wonder at what was laying there. The necklace sitting there was breathtaking. The stones imbedded in the little pendant heart were beautiful. It seemed that he had gotten the perfect comination of sapphire, emerald, and diamonds for the necklace just to take her breath away. And in the box with it, there was a little note.

_I thought I ought to leave this here to apologize for not staying longer, but I just really needed to get home. Long day. Join me back home for some dinner? I promise it'll be delicious._

Shaking her head at this note, she turned to her brother with a smile. "Do you mind putting this on for me? I think Edward would appreciate my wearing it when I get home for this next little part of his devious plan," Bella said to him. If she didn't love this man so much, she was sure she would be furious at him for this stunt.

"Of course," Emmett said, helping to clasp the necklace for Bella who was smiling despite the slight annoyance she felt.

"Come on, brother, time to bring me home for whatever delicious dinner my soon-to-be long term husband will be making," Bella said to him, hurrying back to the car in her eagerness to get back home and see what was awaiting her from Edward. How could she not be excited? If she was going on such a long hunt to find him, or catch up with him like he made it out to be, she supposed that whatever was waiting for her at their current home was going to be absolutely spectacular, after all, he was a fan of the big gestures.

Buckling up, Bella prepared herself for an obnoxiously long car ride home, and so she just starred out of the window, keeping her eyes trained on the scenery passing them by as she sighed lightly, this was going to feel like one of the longest car rides in the history of car rides, even though it would only be a max of 25 minutes long. No matter how short the drive was supposed to be she would be anxiously awaiting her arrival at home.

It took all of her willpower not to badger Emmett to drive faster, hurry up and get them to their destination, but she managed to keep herself from being too unbearably obnoxious about the situation. The second, though, they arrived in front of her apartment building, she hurried out of the car, Emmett informing her that his job as choupher was now over, and that she should bring the flowers back inside with her. What the purpose of bringing them with her was, she still had no idea. But apparently there had been one.

"Thanks, Em, I promise to tell you all about my nice and fancy dinner next time I see you," she assured him with a smile, even though she had a feeling he knew exactly what the fancy dinner she was going to be treated to was going to be like.

Taking a deep, excited breath, she hurried up her stairs and stood in front of her door, keeping the flowers at her side before opening the door, her breath taken away at the state of the apartment.

Candles were lit everywhere, lining ever surface of her room, a small two person table was set up in a rather beautiful way, soft, romantic music was playing in the background, and, above all, she was greeted with the view of a very handsome man in a tuxedo standing in front of her with a smile on his face.

"I see you have been busy since I left," Bella commented as she set the flowers down on the counter of the kitchen as she moved towards where Edward was standing, a silly grin on that man's face. She was certain that he was just as excited as she was for this moment.

"I suppose you could say that," Edward stated, "You look beautiful today," he told her softly, his eyes moving over her features. All she could do was just smile and think that he must be insane for seeing her that way, she was hardly dressed in anything special in the moment and she could hardly be considered beautiful. Her face had a few smears of paint on it and she was certainly just wearing comfortable clothing, though it still fit her well. Alice and Rose made sure everything she owned looked good on her so she would always look good no matter what kind of day she was having.

"You look quite handsome yourself," she said to Edward, almost unsure as to whether or not she ought to approach him, but deciding it didn't matter, she just walked up to her wonderful man and planted a nice kiss on his lips.

"Thank you for the beautiful necklace," she whispered against his lips, feeling the smile form before she pulled back so she could look at Edward's face for the moment.

"I could hardly buy you something that wasn't beautiful," he told her simply, "Only beautiful jewelry for my beautiful Bella," he told her as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, lingering there for a moment before he pulled back, smiling as he gestured to the table. "Would you care to enjoy my painstakingly prepared meal?"

"I think I would love to enjoy the meal you have made for me, after all I had to go all around town before I could get home to enjoy some dinner with you," Bella told him lightly as she sat, awed by the job this man had done for their home. If this was just a nice gesture she would certainly be wondering what it would be like when he proposed.

"Good, good, I think you are going to like it," he told her as he nodded a little bit, sitting down himself and getting his utensils out. "Enjoy, my love," he told her with a bright smile before they both began eating.

Looking across the table at Edward, Bella couldn't help but feel the smile on her lips glued there almost permanently. It was a wonderful feeling to know that this man was going to be staying with her.

It didn't take too long for them to finish their meal and for Edward to be just starring at her from across the table.

"You know, I still can't believe that you didn't kick me out after about a week," Edward told her, "I can't believe how lucky I am that you love me like I love you," he told her as he smiled across the table, resting his hand on top of hers before picking it up and bringing it to meet his lips.

"And I can't believe that you made me fall for you so quickly, that whatever it is about you that made me let you stay is something that I can't seem to get enough of," she told him in a soft voice of her own as she looked at him lovingly, just waiting for him to move from his seat. And move he did, moving to her side before he moved down onto one knee, Bella's breath being caught in her throat for a throat.

"Bella," Edward said as he took her hand securely in his own, "Would you do me the great honor of making me the happiest man on this planet by promising to stay my wife?" he questioned her gently as he pulled out a beautiful ring, and one that Bella loved. It wasn't too extravagant and it certainly wasn't too sparse, Edward had gotten her exactly the right thing.

"Yes," she said, nodding her head quite a bit, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes, especially as she knew this was the true beginning on their lives together, "Yes, I will stay married to you," she said, moving so she could pull his lips to hers, kissing him deeply as she felt him sliding the ring onto her finger. Now the whole world would know that she belonged to Edward and no one else, that her heart was his as well as everything else that was her.

"Edward?" she whispered to him with a smile.

"Yes, my love," he responded.

"We're going to stay married," she stated as she grinned at the man, unable to keep the smile off of her face.

"Yes, yes we are," he promised before gripping her face between his hands and bringing her in for a deep kiss. Any thoughts she had that revolved around anything other than this man flew from her mind and she was consumed by the feel of him, and the knowledge that he was going to be hers forever, just as much as she was his.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you decided to leave me a review so you can make my day. :)<strong>


	28. Chapter Twenty Seven

**Sorry for my long absence ... but I have been struggling over how I was going to do this chapter. Not to mention, my physics course has successfully taken over the majority of the hours of my days, making it very difficult to find time to work on my story. o.o Thankfully, that will soon be all taken care of and I will have plenty of time to do some writing. ^^**

* * *

><p>It had been a few weeks since Edward had proposed to her and she still couldn't quite believe it. Well, he had just confirmed the fact that they were going to be staying married, and Bella suspected that they were going to be staying together for quite some time now. Hopefully that sense was correct. Of course, she had been planning on doing nothing special other than enjoying Edward's company and the knowledge that he was going to belong to her - and her to him - for the rest of her days, but Alice had decided that that was far from good enough.<p>

Alice had made the "executive" decision that Bella and Edward had to have a ceremony to renew their vows. Essentially, have the wedding they had never had the chance to share with one another. While Bella thought that the whole premise was a little bit over the top, she wasn't going to tell her closest friend no as she was well aware that that certainly wouldn't be accepted. Bella had no choice. Edward, though, seemed to be very excited by this idea and was eager to have the ceremony take place. It appeared to Bella that everyone else was far more sentimental than she was, which she had absolutely no problem with. Still, that meant that she was being dragged to the bridal store to try on various wedding dresses until Alice decided they had found the right one (or she found one that just felt completely right) and then, of course, pick out the bride's maid dresses for Alice and Rose. She obviously couldn't do all of this by herself as her friends were convinced that she must have the very best of everything.

Bella didn't understand why she needed 'the very best' or why Edward was insisting that the price tag of these things wasn't supposed to matter to her. In fact, he had ordered Rose and Alice to prevent Bella from seeing any and all of the prices for the dresses she was trying on as that might spoil the choice she made. Edward knew that she was frugal, but didn't want that to stop her this time. After all, he had more than enough money to spare on things like this. As long as he didn't encourage her to move anywhere gigantic, she was going to be fine. Besides, they were looking for a new place - maybe a small house or a large apartment - where they could live together. She didn't think that the two of them living in her loft was the best idea. She wanted to give Edward a room to work on his stories by himself and she needed a studio. Hopefully if they made the right choice they would have everything they could want. Essentially, they were looking for a three bedroom house. Edward had also told her she wasn't allowed to look at price tags of houses when they went hunting for the right one. She had only agreed upon that as long as she was allowed to make sure the house was not a mammoth sort of building.

Taking a deep breath, she heard the doorbell ring and someone just let themselves into the little loft she currently shared with Edward. She was working in her studio at the moment, putting the final touches on the last painting that she was dedicating in the emotion series. Wherever they went she was planning on hanging them up in hallways. These were hers to keep, she didn't want to be the one to sell these things. Of course, she had plenty of other ideas of things to paint now that Edward was a part of her life.

"Bella?" she heard a voice call, Alice's voice.

"In the studio!" she called back. Edward was out for the day meeting with his editor about the novel he had been working so hard on lately.

"Bella! What did I tell you about painting today! You aren't supposed to get yourself all messy when trying on your wedding dress ...," Alice said, putting her hands on her hips and looking at Bella in complete and total annoyance. She couldn't believe her friend sometimes.

"Oh, hush, Alice," Bella responded, finishing her painting just in time, smiling at her finished work before she went to clean the paint brushes, "You know that Edward finds it endearing when I have paint splattered all over my clothing and hands and face. But I promise I will wash it all off because I am trying on white dresses all day," she stated as she smiled a little bit.

Alice just rolled her eyes at Bella. "I'm more irritated because now we might be late for the appointment," Alice said, "Rose is waiting in the car, so you better hurry your ass up, girl. I don't want to keep her waiting for too long, and I certainly don't want to wait to get you into that store! You are going to look so beautiful in those white dresses ... I can hardly wait!" Alice squealed with a grin. "Come on, I'll help you get the paint off and then we can get to the car," Alice told Bella, turning on her heel and heading to the small bathroom, prepping to help remove the various splatters of paint on Bella's arms and face.

Shaking her head a little bit she walked out of her studio and into the bathroom to allow Alice to help her get the paint off as efficiently as possible. Sometimes Bella wondered why Alice ever thought she was going to be on time for these things. Bella hadn't desired this wedding in the first place, so she had no urgency to get to the wedding dress appointment thing. In fact, she didn't really understand the point of it. She had wanted to just pick out a simple white dress from some random store and call it good.

"Am I clean enough now, Alice?" she questioned, looking over at the other woman with a raised eyebrow, hoping that the woman wasn't going to make her do anything else to be prepared for the day ahead of them.

"Your skin, yes, but you need to change out of your painting clothing. Hurry up! We've already wasted enough time!" Alice ordered, tapping her foot impatiently as she sent Bella off to go and pull on some different clothing - clothing that would be easy to change in and out of while she was trying on the wedding dresses that were brought out to her.

Once she was properly dressed (according to Alice) she was quickly whisked away to the car and thrown in the back seat before they were off and heading to the wedding dress store that they had an appointment with. Bella knew that Alice loved to watch all of the designer shows, including things like "Say Yes to the Dress" which was most likely the reason Alice was having her go to a whole appointment thing. She needed to "say yes" to which ever dress worked the best for her.

As soon as they arrived they were quickly taken back to a room where they would be doing all the changing and displaying. Bella was already exhausted as they walked through the place, white dresses absolutely everywhere. The second that Alice and Rose, and herself, were told to go look for dresses to try on, she went and started to look through them. Nothing really caught her eye as she wasn't invested in this in the least, it was Alice that was the one that wanted her to look absolutely perfect. If Bella had her way, she would be closing her eyes and spinning around, eventually just pointing a finger at a dress and go with it.

Thus the day began.

Bella wasn't paying much attention to anything she was putting on or taking off, Alice making all the judgements as Bella didn't much care. The person helping them was absolutely stumped as to why Bella wasn't more excited about the dresses she was trying on. Very few brides were so apathetic towards the process. Of course, when the correct dress was found there was finally a smile on Bella's face.

Alice had done it, found the perfect dress for her and she was certain that Edward would love it. He would be struck breathless when Bella walked down that isle, not that he wouldn't have been regardless of what the woman was wearing.

The wedding dress that Alice had decided on was floor length with no train, having decided that it was silly to have a white dress that was dragging on the ground. It fit Bella's natural curves perfectly and was a perfect fit strapless top with elegant beading on it. Even Bella had to admit that it was better than she had expected, and that she was going to enjoy wearing it down the isle as she walked towards her handsome husband to whom she was promising to stay with for the second time.

Next came the bridesmaid dresses and Bella couldn't have been more pleased with her friends choices. All she had asked was that they were the same color, they could choose which dress they wanted to wear - what fit them the best. After all, Bella thought the tradition of the bridesmaids wearing awful dresses was absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention the fact that she hadn't even been wanting this whole ceremony thing in the first place, it was all the invention of Alice. And Edward.

When all of the dress shopping was finally over Bella couldn't have been more relieved as she headed back home and collapsed on the couch. Life had seemed to get really busy lately. She was perfectly happy with Edward, and she knew she was going to be with him for the rest of her life, but things were insane right now. Looking for a new house, planning for a wedding that was going to be happening in the next two months, Edwards book being released in the very near future, it was a lot of stuff to have going on all at once.

She was hoping, though, that they had found their new place before their wedding, so maybe they could move all of the important stuff in and go straight there after the wedding, have their "honeymoon" as their first few days in their new home - the home that belonged to the both of them. Edward had agreed with her that that was something that they ought to try and do - besides he had threatened to take her somewhere tropical and beautiful and expensive if they weren't spending their honeymoon in their new home so she was all the more motivated to find it.

Tomorrow they were planning on looking at a few more houses, but for now she was just enjoying her position on the couch a the moment. Her eyes had fallen closed and she was completely relaxed, hardly having any intention of moving until she was forced to do so. Slipping into a light sleep, she stayed there until Edward had arrived back home from his long day spent with the editor. It was a bit of a drive for him to get there and back, so the fact that it was eleven at night when he showed up again wasn't much of a surprise. Bella was alerted to his return when she felt someone's warm lips pressing against her own, making her's turn up into a smile.

Slowly opening her eyes, she was pleased to see Edward standing over. "Hello, there, sleepy girl," he said to her with a smile, "Take a nap while I was gone?" he questioned, shifting her body so that he could sit with her on the couch, giving her another kiss. The meeting had gone rather well, and his editor was convinced that he was producing the best material he had yet to do. Edward was attributing that accomplishment to Bella first and foremost. There was no other reason for him to be doing so much better. His mechanics were excellent, his command of language was fantastic, but his inspiration had never been as high as now - all because of the sleepy woman that he had pulled into his arms.

"Yeah, after I managed to survive the whole dress expedition," she told him with a smile, resting her head on his shoulder and taking a deep breath in through her nose. "Mmm ... you smell good," she told him.

"Thank you," he said with a little bit of a chuckle in his voice as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "We should get you to bed," he told her, placing an arm underneath her legs to pick her up and carry her over to the little bed that they shared. He was excited to be able to find a better, larger, and more comfortable bed than this one to share with her. It wouldn't be too much longer now. He had a good feeling about the houses that they were going to be visiting the next day.

"Only if you are going to stay there with me," she informed him, resting her head against his chest as he brought her to the bed, setting her down before he moved onto the bed himself.

"Of course I am going to stay here with you, I've had a long day, too," Edward assured her, relaxing on the bed as he wrapped an arm around Bella's waist and pulled her closer to his own body, kissing her neck gently as he yawned, feeling the tug of sleep on himself now. He was just glad to be back where he belonged.

"Good," Bella said simply, "See you in the morning," she mumbled, curling up against the man and falling into a comfortable sleep, Edward soon following her. They certainly had a lot that they were going to be trying to accomplish the next day. After all, they did need to find that house sooner rather than later.

Morning came all too soon and Bella woke with the sun in her eyes. It appeared that she had forgotten to shut the blinds the night before so that this wouldn't happen. At least sit was a good alarm clock for them as it was only 10 and they were going to have their first house tour today at 1. It certainly gave them enough time to get ready for the day this way. Sighing to herself, she managed to pull out of Edward's warm arms and rolled out of bed.

Shuffling to the kitchen she began to make them breakfast this time, wanting to feed Edward for once instead of the other way around. He was always taking such good care of her and she was never getting the chance to do the same thing for him. It was rather one sided, she thought, though Edward claimed that she did enough to take care of him in little ways, that her support was enough for him. Whatever that really meant.

Finishing their breakfast, she smiled as she saw a sleepy Edward making his way to the kitchen, a smile on his own face. "What's this? You made me breakfast?" Edward asked, his eyebrows raised at the moment. Usually he was the one that woke up first.

"Of course I made you breakfast. When I wake up before you - even though that's not often - I like to cook, you know that. That way you aren't always the one to pamper me. Besides, you just woke up too early for me to bring you breakfast in bed, you spoiled it," Bella teased him, getting a chuckle out of Edward as the man pressed his lips against her temple, making her heart warm just a little bit before she moved away from him to put food on her own plate.

"Help yourself, Once we're done eating I need to shower and get ready for the day - you obviously ought to join me. It'll be faster that way - help us conserve some water," she teased lightly as she grinned over at Edward as the man chuckled.

"Certainly, conserving water is quite important," he said to her, placing some of the breakfast food Bella had made them on a plate of his own before sitting next to her and beginning to eat. He couldn't wait until they had an actual dining table and they could sit facing each other when they wanted to, currently this was the only real option unless one of them was planning on standing for the whole meal.

Once finished, the both of them made certain to make the cleaning process go quickly so that they would be able to get into the shower quickly. They had another two hours before they needed to be somewhere, but Bella had a feeling that they were going to get a little bit distracted while conserving water like she had suggested. Or at least she was going to get a little bit distracted, or a lotta bit distracted depending on what Edward was up to at the same time.

She swung her hips lightly as she made her way to the shower, encouraging Edward to follow her there as she began to remove her clothing once she had turned the warm water on. One of things she was hoping they would have in their new home would be a larger shower. Make it easier to share with Edward when they decided that sharing was something that they wanted to do, which she hoped was going to be more often than not. Bella quite enjoyed it when she got to share the shower with Edward, he made them far more interested.

When the water had reached a temperature that she deemed acceptable, she stepped under the warm stream of water, hearing Edward enter the little bathroom as she looked out at him, grinning as he removed his own clothing before joining her in the shower, stepping in behind her and wrapping his arms around her mid section as she was adjusting to the warm water. "It is good of you to join me, Edward," she said, turning around so that she could get her hair wet as well as smile up at Edward.

"I am happy to have joined you," he said to her, leaning down as he pressed a gentle kiss to Bella's lips, causing the woman to smile. She always loved Edward's sweet kisses. They made her body tingle in the best way possible, no matter what kind of kiss it was. It made her feel loved and safe and it reminded her of all the reasons why she loved Edward so much and why he was worth staying with for the rest of her days. And his.

"Are you going to help me wash my hair?" she questioned him as she felt his arms start to wrap around her more securely, his hands moving to rest on her rear, making her grin a little bit. Bella could tell that this was going to be a very nice shower for the both of them.

"Well, I am considering it, but I am not sure if I really want to or not. I think there are plenty of other things I would like to do more than wash your hair," Edward told her with a sparkle of mischief in his eye as Bella rose on her toes to press a light kiss to Edward's lips.

"Oh, really?" she questioned, playing oblivious, "What sort of things were you thinking of doing instead of washing my hair?" she questioned him.

"Hmm ... I'm not really sure if I can explain it to you very well, would it be alright if I showed you?" Edward asked her, his voice lowering a little bit as his eyes looked into her own, that look of desire on his face making her shiver slightly in anticipation.

"I think that would be perfectly fine," Bella said, lifting on her toes once again as she pressed her lips against Edwards, the two of them keeping their lips locked as he pushed her back against one of the walls of the shower, the cool side a stark contrast to the warm water and Edward's warm body pressed up against her own.

"I was hoping you would say that," Edward said, his voice a hungry growl before his lips found hers once again as his hands wandered along her sides, her fingers moving up to tangle in his now wet hair as he held her against him, pressing closer to her as she could feel his arousal against her stomach from this position. One of his hands was slowly drifting down, in search of her most sensitive spot before his fingers found it, teasing that sensitive bundle of nerves that made her shiver and let out a soft moan, her body pressing against his even more eagerly as she enjoyed the sensations of what the man was doing to her.

"Mmm ...," she hummed as her own hands wandered across his damp skin, tracing his muscles lightly as he made her shiver pleasantly, letting out sounds of approval every few moments. It had been awhile since they had gotten to enjoy each others company in this manner, longer than she would have liked, and that was only because of how busy their lives had become, how much they had to accomplish at once in order to keep their lives going. But now they had a few spare moments as they conserved the water of their shower to some degree and enjoyed one another's company.

"Oh, Edward," she breathed, her eyes closing as she felt his hands slowly move behind her thighs, preparing to lift her as she wrapped her arms around his neck, aware of his intentions from the second he had begun moving. Pulling herself close to him, she couldn't stop herself from moaning loudly as her body joined with Edwards in such a perfect way, her legs wrapping around his waist as he pressed her more firmly against the wall now to be certain that she wouldn't slip anywhere.

She loved this man with all of her heart. She didn't know what she would do without him. His lips were moving along her neck and she couldn't let out a content sigh at the sweet kisses there, though it soon morphed into a moan at the movement of Edward's hips, making her eyes fall closed as she rolled her hips forward in response. Everything about Edward was perfect. And she didn't know what she would do without him in her life. How had she managed to get so lucky with such a wonderful man? And she certainly couldn't even fathom why she had been so irritated with him at first. It seemed absolutely insane to her now that she was looking back on her, and she was so thankful that Edward had put up with her.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered against her skin, making her hum in response as she moved her hips against his to the best of her ability, just enjoying the feeling of him being close to her.

Her lips were turned up in a smile as she ran her fingers through his hair, "So are you," she whispered to him, letting out breathy moans as she enjoyed the feeling of him, her moans slowly growing in volume as she felt that delicious feeling building inside of her.

"Edward ...," she moaned, just on the verge of finding her release as she gripped tighter to the man as their movements because just a little bit more frantic and needy.

It wasn't much longer before Edward was groaning out her name, and only seconds after him, she was moaning his as she buried her head in his neck as she kept herself close to the man, slowly feeling her breathing move back to normal, her lips turned up in a smile. "I love you," she said to him as they slowly separated enough for her to rest on the floor of the bathtub. Resting her head against Edward's chest she smiled at the feeling of his lips on the top of her head.

"I love you, too," he whispered as they stood their for a second, just basking in the comfortable afterglow with one another.

Resting her chin on Edward's chest and looking up at him, she smiled lightly. "So, you going to wash my hair now?" she questioned him with a little bit of a smile. "I mean, we got a little bit distracted, but that doesn't mean we don't actually need to shower," she said to him. Edward chuckled then, the vibrations making her smile a little bit, she liked being so close to the man. He was so perfect for her, and she hoped that she was equally as perfect for him.

"Of course, my love," he said to her, kissing the top of her head again, "But you will have to wash mine, then," he said to her.

"Deal, but you are going to have to kneel or something, you are too tall to stand and have me wash your hair," she teased him, earning a little chuckle from him at that moment before he grabbed the shampoo, turning her around and promptly beginning to care for her.


	29. Chapter Twenty Eight

**I hope you all are enjoying this story. :) There are only going to be a few more chapters (4 +/- 2) left (I think) but you are definitely going to get to see Edward and Bella get married. :D Sooo ... Let's get on with this house hunting business. **

* * *

><p>Once they had managed to get themselves out of the shower, they quickly dressed themselves and headed out to go to the first house they were going to be walking through today. Edward was insistent on looking at many different homes. He was the one that chose the ones that they would look at and Bella was going to be the one that made the final decision on what they were going to be purchasing. Edward could hardly care where they ended up living, it didn't much matter to him. As long as he was with Bella he was going to be content.<p>

As they arrived at the first home in the series that they were viewing today, Bella let out a little bit of a sigh. She just knew that this was going to be a long day. "Alright, first house. What does this one have?" she asked him, looking over at Edward with a little bit of a smile.

"Three bedroom, two bath, one office, living room, basement, and a nice backyard," he informed her with a little smile as he looked over at Bella. He knew that she wasn't the biggest fan of going through this whole process, but he was excited to see her when they finally found the right place. He was sure that Bella didn't even realize how much she was going to enjoy finding a place that would really belong to them, that would call to them for their future home.

"Okay, I'm guessing one of those bedrooms is a 'master bedroom,' yes? One that is just too big ...," she trailed off, knowing that Edward was trying to spoil them with the house they ended up buying. It wasn't like they were going to be pressed for money any time in the future. As long as they didn't spend money frivolously and Bella was not one of the people to want to do such things. She didn't like spending money in places that she didn't need to spend it. However, she was enjoying the ability to buy paints and canvases without worrying too much about her bank account. She didn't want to have to worry about her bank account too much, after all.

Edward just smirked a little bit. "Yes," he said to her, "But you are going to like having that master bedroom, just you wait and see," he said to her as he picked up her hand and kissed the back of it quickly. "Come on, let's go check this one out," he said, getting out of the car, Bella following suit as they headed up to the place. This was an open house, so they would be getting to walk around aimlessly as long as they chose. Well, within the time allotted for this one. The house looked bigger than Bella would have liked it to. She was one that was not inclined to have a large home, and Edward knew it so she was wondering just a little bit as to why he was making her look at houses like this. At least not all of them were mammoth houses. Or bordering on mammoth houses. Sometimes she wondered if he ever actually completely listened to her when she was talking about looking at homes. She was guessing that he only half listened to what she had to say to him. Then again, she found that she really didn't care all that much.

With Edward's arm wrapped around her waist they approached the building in front of them. If Bella had been more comfortable with the idea of a house laying on the larger side of the spectrum she would have been sold on it just by the outward appearance. It made her wonder if Edward was trying to manipulate her into getting a house more like this one than the smaller scale she had currently been holding in mind.

"Welcome!" an overly friendly Realtor said to them, the one running the open house, "You two looking for your first home?" she questioned them, looking back and forth between the two.

"Yes," Edward answered for the both of them, "But the one calling all the shots in the end is this woman right here - she's the one you have to impress," Edward told the lady who turned her gaze reluctantly towards Bella who was currently leaning into Edward's side, content to be where she was. She wanted to stake her claim on him as obviously as was possible, for many different reasons. Only one of them being the fact that this Realtor seemed to be eyeing up her husband. Whatever the case was, he was hers and she wanted the world to know it. She supposed that was a good enough reason to be going through the pain of choosing a house for them as well as the ceremony that was not too far off in the future.

"Well, then, I do hope you like this place. It has a wonderful back yard, perfect for children if you are planning on having any. And if not, great place to host parties with friends," she said with a bright grin, her eyes darting back over to Edward which only served to annoy her further. "Also, there is a lovely basement that includes a home theater, and an excellent game room as well as a guest bedroom," the woman said, "The master sweet upstairs is also quite lovely. I hope you like what you see," she said to Bella, though her eyes had ended up migrating over to Edward the longer they were speaking together which only served to irritate Bella.

Once the Realtor was gone, however, her irritation shifted to Edward. "Three bedrooms, huh? You kind of undersold this place," she said to the man who was just grinning at her.

"I knew you would refuse to even step a foot inside of this place if I told you any of those things," he teased her with a little smile. "Come on, let's walk around. You decide if this place is too big for you or not," he said to her, kissing her temple quickly before ushering her up the stairs. All Bella could do was roll her eyes and smile ever so slightly at Edwards enthusiasm. This place really was lovely. But she wasn't so sure that this sort of home was a place she would want to live. It seemed too large for just the two of them, even if they were going to be taking up plenty of space because of the need for an office and a studio. But all the other space? She wasn't really certain why she would need so much space.

"Why are you making me walk through places like this?" she questioned as he took her into the master bedroom suite. She couldn't deny that it truly was a lovely room. It was huge, as far as she was concerned. The bathroom attacked was also gorgeous, the shower was large and would easily fit both her and Edward if they so chose to enjoy a shower together, which would be nice.

"Well," Edward said, kissing her neck lightly as they stood still in the master bedroom for a moment, "I am hoping that one day you may be interested in having children, and I do not see the point of having to move again once we have made that decision, best to just purchase a place that has everything we already need for when we decide we are ready for that step," Edward said to her simply, making Bella smile just a little bit.

She had never really thought about having children much. Of course, she had for a long time thought that one day she would have them, and that 'one day' was going to be many years off in the future regardless of how old she was, but here was Edward who was reminding her of that possible want, the want that he had certainly made her experience as she was now biting her lower lip and suddenly the possibility of a larger house didn't seem that awful, especially if they were planning on having children one day. Besides, the more rooms there were, the more places they would have to 'break in.'

"Hmm ...," Bella said, thinking to herself, "When and if we decide to have children, how many would you want?" she questioned him as they stood on the upper balcony, his arms wrapped around her waist in a comfortable embrace as she looked down at the floor below them. This place really wasn't that gigantic. Depending on how many children then were going to have.

"Oh, two or three," Edward said, which would make this house the perfect size for a family of four when both parents work at home because of how artist and talented they are," he told her, kissing her temple as she smiled a little bit.

Bella had always pictured herself with one or two children, "Well, I've only ever though of having one or two, so we're going to have to meet midway, there," she said to him, looking up into Edwards eyes with a little smile on her lips, "But now I suppose we need to be sure we have two bedrooms, one master suite because you are never going to let me hear the end of it if we don't have one, and at least two extra rooms for our repective offices and stuidos," she said to him as she stood with him, starting to imagine what it would be like to have children running around this place, and she couldn't help but smile.

All of the bedrooms in this place were on the same floor, too, which was good. They hadn't even been in the basement yet, though, and she wasn't sure if it was going to make it seem too big for her or not. Her view changed now that Edward had gotten her thinking several years in the future, or maybe not even that far. She loved this man and she did know if she was going to want to wait eventually.

"Hmm, well then, two it is," he said, kissing her cheek before moving away from her and just linking their fingers together. "What do you think of this place, then? From your new view point?" he questioned her.

"Not as gigantic as I thought it was, considering the idea of having two children, but it is still just a little bit too big for my tastes. But it is nice. It would just feel very ... empty for a long while, I think, if it was just the two of us. I'm sure we would pretty much live in our work spaces and the nice little master suite," she teased Edward with a light smile on her lips.

"I think you are going to like the houses we look at today more than you expected to," Edward said to her before they walked through the rest of the house. Bella still stood by what she had said, that the house was just a little too big, but that the idea of planning for room for children was one she was comfortable considering when looking into a home.

Soon they were in the car and driving to the next open house they were visiting this day. There were quite a few of them that they were being allowed to go and walk through, which she was excited about. "So, Edward, what do we have in this house?" she questioned when they had parked in front of the next one. It didn't look as large as the last, but it was bigger than her initial idea of how large their home would be, but she reminded herself that they were looking to the future, too, not just at the present. Any sort of change from her little loft was going to be a bit of an adjustment for her.

_"_Well," he started, smiling over at her, "There are three bedrooms again, one is a master, there are four bathrooms, an office, one 'bonus' room, there is a basement with a 'home theater' and a very nicely updated kitchen," he informed her as he got out of the car, Bella following suit as they approached the home. At least Edward was being a bit more honest now. And it sounded more reasonable to her. The office for Edward, the bonus room for her studio. The basement with the 'home theater' would be a good place to entertain friends, and when they eventually had kids a good place for they to keep their toys and things. Bella was guessing that she wasn't going to be getting away with a house with no master bedroom because of Edwards insistence.

"Alright," she said with a little nod as Edward grabbed her hand and laced their fingers together, making her lips turn up into a smile. She liked the feeling of Edward's hand in hers. She couldn't believe that she was actually married to this man and planning on staying that way. And that he wanted to be with her, and certainly not to mention the fact that they were buying a full blown house with one another. Oh, right, and they had decided today that the would, at least one day, be having children together. It made her heart beat a little faster and her stomach twist up in pleasant knots to know that she had a future with this wonderful man.

In the back of her mind, Bella was wondering exactly howmuch these fantastic houses Edward was bringing her to cost, wondering how on earth they were going to afford it, which was when she always seemed to remember that Edward was only a slightly famous author that everyone basically loved reading and he was married to her. Right. They could afford pretty much anything they wanted, though Bella was dead set on making sure that they spent their money frugally - at least once they had bought the extravagant house. The furniture they bought for it would not be brand new, she would be dragging Edward to a re-sale shop or something of the sort in order to purchase the things for their home. There was no way she was going to let him spend thousands of dollars on new furniture after having bought an expensive house.

Bella honestly didn't know, though, how much money the two of them hand, and she found that she didn't much care as long as she was with Edward. And if a house like this was going to make him happy, she wasn't going to complain. Especially since she was the one that was allowed to make the final decision. She got the ultimate say in whether or not that was where they were going to be living, and she also knew that he wouldn't be even considering moving until she was considering moving. And Bella highly doubted that once they had moved into a house that she would ever be planning on moving out of it.

Walking into the home, her breath was taken away for just a moment. It was beautiful in here. Everything was beautiful in here. Including Edward. It wasn't too big either, though the entryway had a high ceiling going up to the second floor where she was assuming the bedrooms were. The main floor was open - but not too open. Stairs to the basement were by this entry way, too, which she found perfect. Nice and open right here, but the rest didn't seem so gigantic. The main floor and living room was open, but it wasn't a large space, only just big enough to be comfortable as it sat next to the kitchen. It made her smile a little bit to see it, though she had sort of wished that their bedroom would be on the same floor, but it seemed like that was an unlikely happening given the places that Edward had been choosing for them to visit.

With her fingers laced with Edwards, she walked towards the little office, smiling at it. It was cozy and their was a little fake fireplace. She could imagine herself sneaking in here to surprise Edward, or curling up on a love seat reading something while he worked. A lot like what they did in her loft. The "bonus" room was almost next to it, though, and she smiled widely at it. It was far more open, and she could picture it being more of a studio for herself. Maybe this was going to be the home they chose. She found it not so gigantic, but it was nice and open. Closer to the kitchen they found one of the four bathrooms. It was a smaller bathroom, just a toilet and a sink, which she decided made the most sense as she had the suspicion that there was one bathroom for the master bedroom, one for the other two bedrooms, and then another small bathroom downstairs - where the hometheater apparently was.

Bella was thankful that she and Edward weren't being stopped by any nosy Realtor, she was just enjoying walking through this house with Edward. She decided that the basement was a little larger than her liking, but she knew there wasn't much she could change about that, and it was only so large because half of it seemed to be dedicated to the home theater portion of the house. Deciding that it was alright, she moved up the stairs with Edward and ventured towards the master bedroom. It reminded her a lot of the one they had viewed at the last house - and the shower was certainly amazing.

"Well, Edward," Bella said as they stood in the middle of the master bedroom, "If we don't find anything else I love more, I think this just might be our future home," she informed him with a little bit of a smile as he grinned at her.

"I'm glad you like it," he said, "I was hoping you would warm up to the larger size," he said to her, pulling her a little bit closer to him, his arms wrapping around her waist comfortably.

"Of course," she said with a small smile on her lips.

"You know, the nice thing about a master bedroom is that we could have a crib in here when children are young, less of a distance to go when they aren't sleeping through the night," Edward said, as if he felt he needed to inform Bella of the various things that were so nice about having such a large bedroom. It made Bella smile a little bit. He was so adorable when he was trying to convince her of something.

"Hmm ... I see ... I think that makes sense," she said with a little nod, wrapping her arms around Edward's neck. "Are you telling me that you want to make a baby sometime soon?" she teased him with a little smile.

"What if I am?" he asked her as he leaned down and pressed a light soft kiss to her lips, "I certainly enjoy the act of trying to make a baby," he teased her right back with a little smile.

"Would you be ready to have a baby, though?" Bella questioned him, looking up into his eyes as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before letting his arm fall back to its previous position around her waist.

"As long as you are," he answered her simply, which made her smile widely before she stood up on her toes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"You know what, Edward? I'll think about it," she told him as she stole another quick kiss from him before sliding her hands down to twine with his, "Let's get going, we have one more house to see today, right?" she questioned him with a raised eyebrow, whenever he was ready to get on his way, she was eager to get going. All this talk of the future and possible children had her wanting it a lot more than she had ever thought she would. Bella had never figured herself for the mothering type, but when Edward spoke about having children with her, it gave her this warm feeling in the pit of her stomach as if her body was even telling her that it sounded like a good idea.

"Yes, we have one more house we need to look at," Edward said, nodding a little bit in confirmation of her statement. He was enjoying himself today, watching her as she looked through potential homes for the both of them. It gave him a wonderful feeling. He couldn't wait to begin to start a life with this woman - more than they already had. Currently they were living in her place, he was excited to have an 'our' place. At least she still was married to him. "So, today been better than you thought it would be?" Edward asked her with a sly smile on his lips, knowing that she had been dreading this whole excursion, so if she had been enjoying himself he would certainly be very pleased with himself. How could he not be? He wanted to make this woman as happy as he could possibly manage.

"Oh, it's not as awful as I expected," Bella said to him as they slipped out of the house and headed down to their car, "But it's still strange to be looking for a house, but still quite exciting all at once," she told him as she smiled lightly as Edward started up the car and began to drive them to their next destination. This next house was apparently a little bit smaller than the other ones they had looked at, but Bella didn't really trust Edward's word when it came to the size of houses they were looking at.

Edward nodded a little bit as they approached the final house that they were investigating for the day. This one was just a little smaller than the other two, but it had just as many rooms, and Edward had a feeling that Bella was going to love this one the most. And quite possibly even end up choosing this one as their future home.

"You have quite the smile on your face," Bella noted as she smiled brightly up at Edward.

"I am just enjoying the day I am spending with my beautiful wife as we look for a new home," he said with a soft smile.

Bella smiled a little bit, "You are sweet," she said, standing on her toes to steal a little bit of a kiss from him before the two of them slipped into the building together.

It was love at first sight for Bella. "Edward ... were you saving the best for last?" she asked as she smiled a little at him, looking over her shoulder at the man as she looked about the entry way. It was a beautiful living room with rich wooden beams. It was an older house, and she liked that.

Grabbing Edward's hand, she pulled him along behind her before she looked into the office space and smile at it. It far more rustic than the last one, and she liked the idea of curling up in here while Edward worked, even more than in the last one. She looked into the open kitchen space as she smiled lightly. "This is beautiful," she said, smiling brilliantly.

The stairway to upstairs was next to the kitchen, and she couldn't stop smiling as she moved up the beautiful wooden stairs. The bedrooms were all on this floor and it made her smile. Perfect. The kitchen was close enough to the bedroom for those nice mornings when one of them decided to cook for the other. It was going to be wonderful.

"Look, Edward, the bathrooms are all modernized," she said, grinning. That was the one part of the house that she had wanted to be modern. She smiled slightly as she looked around and turned to face Edward.

"I'm already sold on this," she said, leaning in and kissing Edward's lips gently and wonderfully.

Edward smiled at the woman and kissed her back sweetly. "Come on, lets go look at the basement, your studio would be down there," he said with a little smile as he linked fingers with her's and pulled her down the stairs, smiling the whole way through.

Walking into the basement, she grinned at the wide open space, moving to the closed double doors. When she opened them her breath was taken away. It was wide open, it even had a little bathroom off of it. Perfect for cleaning off after getting covered in paint, and for a place to wash off paint brushes.

Taking Edward's hand, she walked back out and to a little room into the corner. Smiling a little, she looked over at the man. "Perfect for a play room or a guest room," she declared as she turned to look at Edward and pulled him in for a deep kiss.

"Darling, I think we've found our house. It's still big for just the two of us, but if you are serious about kids, its going to be perfectly sized," she said with a little smile as she wrapped her arms around Edward's neck securely.

Edward looked at her and just smiled. "So its done, we'll buy the house as soon as we can," Edward told her, kissing her sweetly on the lips, "I think its going to be absolutely perfect."

"Wonderful," she said as she stood on her toes and kissed him gently this time, lingering against his lips for a long moment before pulling back and smiling.

"We're really doing this," Edward said, whispering as he kissed her lips gently.

"We really are," she said with a smile.


End file.
